Conyers police arrested seven men on zoning violations after they were found collecting wrecked cars in commercial parking lots for transporting to Mexico.

On Saturday, just after midnight, a Conyers Police officer driving around the Grand Buffet off of Ga. Highway 138 noticed there were many totaled cars in the back parking lot.

Seven men were working on 19 wrecked cars. All seven had valid visas or passports from Mexico. Although they reportedly could not speak English well, they explained to the officer they had purchased the cars from surrounding states. The cars were being worked on and connected together for transporting to Mexico.

Crime analyst Kim Lucas said officers had noticed multiple cars being towed together recently in a similar fashion. "They'll tow them in the middle of the night on property they don't own, hooking them all up and towing them back to Mexico," she said.

A previous similar incident occurred Sept. 12 at the Super 8 motel parking lot on Dogwood Drive where numerous junked vehicles were spotted. Two men were issued a zoning violation citation. Those two had been warned earlier when they had brought their junked cars to the Salem Gate shopping center.