Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Canadians help our enemies again

Illegal immigration from north of the border...
SEATTLE (AP) - U.S. and Canadian authorities announced Wednesday they have broken up a human smuggling ring suspected of illegally shepherding dozens of Indian and Pakistani nationals into Washington state from British Columbia.
A U.S. federal grand jury in Seattle has indicted 14 U.S. and Canadian men for their roles in the alleged scheme. Twelve had been arrested as of Wednesday. Investigators on both sides of the border worked on the case for more than a year, apprehending roughly 50 people who had allegedly paid as much as $35,000 US apiece to be smuggled into the United States, said Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle.

RCMP officers arrested the suspected ringleader Kavel Multani, 46, a dual Canadian and Indian citizen living in Vancouver on Tuesday, along with three other suspects: Nizar Sabaz-Ali, 38, a Pakistani citizen of North York, Ont.; Sandip Parhar, 26, a Canadian citizen of Delta, B.C. and Armardeep Singh Powar, 23, an Indian citizen of Vancouver.
Multani was named in a nine-count indictment unsealed Wednesday charging him with smuggling and transporting illegal aliens. Also arrested so far are two Indian citizens living in Canada, one Indian citizen living in Washington state, four Canadian citizens and one American.
Authorities were still seeking two other men who have been indicted.
Winchell said two undercover agents infiltrated the alleged smuggling operation, which slipped most immigrants across the border in between patrolled ports of entry. He said the network in Vancouver is part of a larger smuggling organization spread across Canada.

We have our problems south of the border... and we're getting it from the north, too?