USA busts human smuggling ring

WASHINGTON, Nov 21 (UNI) — The USA has announced the demolition of the largest and most sophisticated human smuggling ring in the American history in which some 7,200 Indian citizens have been illegally brought to the USA in return for hefty sums of money during the past three years.

The Immigration and Naturalisation Service (INS), a U.S. government agency which carried out the year-long investigation known as, "Operation seek and keep," said last night 22 persons were taken into custody in a series of raids in several states of the USA and its adjoining countries - the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Ecuador.

The authorities said the investigation was continuing and additional arrests were likely. Two of the three ringleaders were arrested, and a third smuggling chieftain was at large, officials said. All three are from India.

Those arrested included Nitin Shettie, Abdul Farooque, Gunvantla Shah, Shermik Kumar Shah, Bhupendra Patel, Paresh Patel, Navin Patel, Mohammad Farooq, George Kessel, Inayat Vohra, Jay Patel, Mukesh Solanki, Hiren Jashwant Bhai Patel, Mahendra Patel, Nizar, Abdul Sampson and Navtej Pall Singh Sandu.

After beginning its arrests last week, the INWS discovered that some of the aliens were being housed in transit countries. Through information provided by the INS, Bahamian officials found 31 Indian nationals, and Ecuadorian officials found 30 being held at a smuggler’s residence.

The U.S. government is working to give Cuba information about smugglers and 37 Indians held in transit there.

The alleged smuggler provided undocumented workers to unscrupulous employers who wanted cheap labour. Such employers are still being identified and apprehended, said an INS press note issued here yesterday.

For the past three years, it revealed, these "flesh cartels" smuggled as many as 300 Indian nationals per month, at a cost of more than $ 20,000 per alien. Thus, about 7200 illegal aliens have been brought to the USA in the past three years and over a three-year period, the gross take-off for the organisation would be nearly $ 220 million.