Police bust local people-smuggling ring
15 arrested in joint Canadian-U.S. operation
By Cassandra Szklarski
Canadian Press

A joint Canada-U.S. police effort cracked a human smuggling ring today, arresting 15 people involved in "a large-scale operation" that saw illegal aliens from India and Pakistan being moved through Canada to the United States.

"Information gathered in our investigation revealed a core group of people smugglers based in the Toronto area was responsible for the vast majority of South Asia migrants being smuggled into Canada and then illegally transported across the border into the United States," RCMP Insp. Steve Martin told a news conference.

The illegal migrants allegedly gained entry to Canada through Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal using forged passports and posing as large tour groups, Martin said.

It was the first time suspects in a human smuggling ring have been charged in Canada with being members of a criminal organization.

Officers from the RCMP, Ontario Provincial Police, the Toronto Police Service, Citizenship and Immigration Canada and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service were involved in the year-long investigation.

After arriving in Canada, the migrants were taken to safe houses, motels or hotels in the Toronto area. Those that wished to continue into the United States were hidden in the backs of trucks, tractor-trailers or trunks of cars, Martin said.

They were taken to either the Windsor-Detroit or the Niagara Falls, Ont.-Fort Erie, Mich. border points and either crossed in the vehicles or were transferred to boats headed across the St. Clair and Niagara Rivers.

Among the charges were also two counts of conspiracy to violate U.S. immigration laws.

"Organized crime knows no borders," Martin said.

"As organized crime links up around the world to facilitate its criminal activities, so are police working together globally to fight it."

Police said the illegal migrants included men, women, young families and the elderly who paid up to $40,000 US each to be smuggled into North America.

Martin said the arrests were not connected to the reported arrests of nine people from India who were allegedly smuggled into the U.S. on Saturday at the Blue Water Bridge between Sarnia and Port Huron, Mich.



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