Nine people were taken into custody Jan. 15 in Bethel after U.S. Border Patrol agents attempted to stop a van previously associated with “suspected illegal activity” near Flat Road.

The officers were conducting a roving patrol about 7:30 a.m. and attempted to conduct an “immigration inspection” but the van failed to stop, Ryan Brissette, spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, wrote in an email Thursday.

The agents followed the van, which was “driving erratically,” for about 2 miles before it came to a stop on Skillings Road, Brissette wrote.

When it stopped, nine people fled from the vehicle into the surrounding woods, he said.

Agents pursued and apprehended all nine, who were later determined to be in the United States “illegally,” he wrote. Brissette did not say what the individuals were doing illegally or what charges were being filed.

All individuals were taken to the U.S. Border Patrol Station in Rangeley for further processing.

The Oxford County Sheriff’s Office was called to provide emergency assistance, Chief Deputy James Urquhart wrote in an email. Deputies “staged in different areas and monitored the situation but were not directly involved,” he wrote.