Photo courtesy of U.S.ICE
Feds to confiscate $10 million in assets from Arizona smuggling shuttle businesses
April 15, 2010
Phoenix, Arizona (HNNUSA) - On Thursday, federal immigration enforcement agents launched a major operation that shut down a multi-billion dollars illegal human smuggling operation. The owners and employees of five Arizona commercial shuttle services are among the 47 criminal suspects taken into custody following the execution of federal search and arrest warrants across the state by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting the infrastructure of several major Arizona based human smuggling organizations.
Within the last 10 years, the 5 shuttle businesses involved in human trafficking were responsible of smuggling more than 80,000 undocumented immigrants into the U.S. Illegal immigrants from Mexico paid a minimum of $700, and an illegal immigrant from China paid $75,000 to get smuggled through Arizona, according to ICE.
Three primary suspects who managed the major international smuggling operation that netted profits in the billions were identified as, Claudio Ramirez Morales, who managed the operation in Mexico; Gloria Haydee Vera, was in charge of the Tucson operation; and Sandra Luz Flores Anzo, accused of arranging the transportation of undocumented immigrants and was in charge of the Phoenix operation.
Authorities confiscated over $10 million in assets from the 5 shuttle businesses implicated in the international human trafficking and smuggling operation.
In a news conference on Thursday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton and Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke provided details of the investigation, dubbed "Operation In Plain Sight" because of the brazen nature of the transportation companies activities. Authorities characterized the case as the most comprehensive human smuggling investigation in ICE history.
The year-long ICE investigation expanded beyond its initial focus on several Tucson-based shuttle companies allegedly used by smugglers to transport thousands of illegal aliens from southern Arizona to the Phoenix area. The bi-national investigation, which included unprecedented cooperation with Mexico's Secretaria Securidad Publica (SSP), ultimately implicated high-level members of human smuggling organizations in Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales, Ariz., and northern Mexico that were serviced by the shuttle businesses.
In a massive operation, more than 800 agents and officers from nine federal, state and local law enforcement agencies mobilized Thursday morning to carry out the arrests and searches in four Arizona communities, that included Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales and Rio Rico. In addition, agents from Mexico's SSP have also made arrests in neighboring Nogales Sonora, in connection to the federal case.
The search locations in Arizona included the offices of four Tucson shuttle services of Saguaro Roadrunner Shuttles, America's Shuttles, Guerro's Shuttles and Nogales Express Shuttles, and a fifth shuttle company in Phoenix, identified as Sergio's Shuttle. According to court documents unsealed Thursday, the aliens transported by the shuttle services were given pre-printed fare receipts in the amount of $30 in an effort to make the shuttle trips appear legitimate. Although most of the smuggled aliens identified during the investigation were from Mexico and Central America, others came from as far away as China.
The 44 suspects taken into custody were charged in four separate criminal indictments with a variety of federal violations, including money laundering, alien smuggling and conspiracy. In addition, agents arrested seven individuals criminally based upon probable cause. The prosecution is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, specifically Assistant U.S. Attorney Munish Sharda in Tucson and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Settel in Phoenix.
The criminal defendants, if convicted on conspiracy to transport and/or harbor illegal aliens, they face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years. Of those charged in the indictment, four remain at large and are still being sought.
In addition to the criminal arrests, the case indictments include criminal forfeiture of property valued at $10 milliion. ICE and the U.S. Attorney's office will be seeking to seize assets, including real estate, vehicles and other property that were derived from the criminal conspiracy.
Agents also seized a total of seven weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle, and more than 40 vehicles, according to the press release provided on Thursday by ICE.
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Feds to confiscate $10 million in assets from Arizona smuggling shuttle businesses
April 15, 2010
Phoenix, Arizona (HNNUSA) - On Thursday, federal immigration enforcement agents launched a major operation that shut down a multi-billion dollars illegal human smuggling operation. The owners and employees of five Arizona commercial shuttle services are among the 47 criminal suspects taken into custody following the execution of federal search and arrest warrants across the state by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) targeting the infrastructure of several major Arizona based human smuggling organizations.
Within the last 10 years, the 5 shuttle businesses involved in human trafficking were responsible of smuggling more than 80,000 undocumented immigrants into the U.S. Illegal immigrants from Mexico paid a minimum of $700, and an illegal immigrant from China paid $75,000 to get smuggled through Arizona, according to ICE.
Three primary suspects who managed the major international smuggling operation that netted profits in the billions were identified as, Claudio Ramirez Morales, who managed the operation in Mexico; Gloria Haydee Vera, was in charge of the Tucson operation; and Sandra Luz Flores Anzo, accused of arranging the transportation of undocumented immigrants and was in charge of the Phoenix operation.
Authorities confiscated over $10 million in assets from the 5 shuttle businesses implicated in the international human trafficking and smuggling operation.
In a news conference on Thursday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for ICE John Morton and Arizona U.S. Attorney Dennis K. Burke provided details of the investigation, dubbed "Operation In Plain Sight" because of the brazen nature of the transportation companies activities. Authorities characterized the case as the most comprehensive human smuggling investigation in ICE history.
The year-long ICE investigation expanded beyond its initial focus on several Tucson-based shuttle companies allegedly used by smugglers to transport thousands of illegal aliens from southern Arizona to the Phoenix area. The bi-national investigation, which included unprecedented cooperation with Mexico's Secretaria Securidad Publica (SSP), ultimately implicated high-level members of human smuggling organizations in Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales, Ariz., and northern Mexico that were serviced by the shuttle businesses.
In a massive operation, more than 800 agents and officers from nine federal, state and local law enforcement agencies mobilized Thursday morning to carry out the arrests and searches in four Arizona communities, that included Phoenix, Tucson, Nogales and Rio Rico. In addition, agents from Mexico's SSP have also made arrests in neighboring Nogales Sonora, in connection to the federal case.
The search locations in Arizona included the offices of four Tucson shuttle services of Saguaro Roadrunner Shuttles, America's Shuttles, Guerro's Shuttles and Nogales Express Shuttles, and a fifth shuttle company in Phoenix, identified as Sergio's Shuttle. According to court documents unsealed Thursday, the aliens transported by the shuttle services were given pre-printed fare receipts in the amount of $30 in an effort to make the shuttle trips appear legitimate. Although most of the smuggled aliens identified during the investigation were from Mexico and Central America, others came from as far away as China.
The 44 suspects taken into custody were charged in four separate criminal indictments with a variety of federal violations, including money laundering, alien smuggling and conspiracy. In addition, agents arrested seven individuals criminally based upon probable cause. The prosecution is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Arizona, specifically Assistant U.S. Attorney Munish Sharda in Tucson and Assistant U.S. Attorney Lisa Settel in Phoenix.
The criminal defendants, if convicted on conspiracy to transport and/or harbor illegal aliens, they face a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years. Of those charged in the indictment, four remain at large and are still being sought.
In addition to the criminal arrests, the case indictments include criminal forfeiture of property valued at $10 milliion. ICE and the U.S. Attorney's office will be seeking to seize assets, including real estate, vehicles and other property that were derived from the criminal conspiracy.
Agents also seized a total of seven weapons, including an AK-47 assault rifle, and more than 40 vehicles, according to the press release provided on Thursday by ICE.
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