Mexico sentences migrant smuggler to 60 years

The Associated Press 2:30 p.m. December 28, 2008

MEXICO CITY — Mexican prosecutors say they won a 60-year prison term for a human smuggler who helped about 200 people sneak into the U.S., including Hezbollah supporters.

Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was arrested in 2002 and convicted on organized-crime and immigrant-smuggling charges.

Boughader, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, ran a cafe in the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California.

Among those he smuggled were sympathizers of Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based group that U.S. authorities have labeled a terror organization.

The federal Attorney General's Office on Sunday said Boughader also was fined $6,000. Mexican prison terms are sometimes reduced for good behavior.

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