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  1. #1
    Administrator Jean's Avatar
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    Pakistani Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Fellow Countrymen Into U.S. (update)

    by BOB PRICE
    13 Apr 2017
    Washington, DC

    A Pakistani national pleaded guilty in a District of Columbia federal court to a charge of smuggling illegal aliens from Pakistan and other countries into the U.S.

    Sharafat Ali Khan, a 32-year-old citizen of Pakistan and former Brazilian resident, pleaded guilty before District of Columbia District Court Judge Reggie Walton to one count of conspiracy to smuggle undocumented migrants into the United States for profit. Khan worked with other conspirators to create a complex human smuggling network to move illegal immigrants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and other countries through Brazil to Central American and Mexico before crossing the borders into the U.S., information obtained by Breitbart Texas from the Department of Justice and U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement revealed.

    Court documents obtained by Breitbart Texas exposed the complexity of Khan’s smuggling operation. Kahn and his conspirators forced many of the smuggled immigrants of the immigrants to travel in dangerous conditions in journey’s lasting up to nine months. Kahn received between $3,000 and $15,000 USD per immigrant as a fee for conducting the smuggling operation. Immigrants would be forced to pay additional fees along the way to various conspirators of the smuggling network. While not specifically stated in the court documents, Kahn and his conspirators likely have worked with Mexican drug cartels during the final parts of their trip.

    The immigrants listed in the indictment and criminal complaint entered the U.S. through Texas and California. Their smuggling routes would take them from their home countries to Dubai – Brazil – Peru – Ecuador – Colombia – Panama – Costa Rica – Nicaragua – El Salvador – Guatemala – and into Mexico before they would cross the U.S. border. Their trips included travel by air, sea, and land. Kahn’s conspirators forced many of the travelers to take a dangerous hike through the Darién Gap along the border between Colombia and Panama. Prosecutors stated the Darién Gap is a “dangerous, wild tropical forest area that stretches approximately 100 miles from the north to south coast of Panama.” The jungle stretches the breadth of the country and is not accessible by vehicle. The aliens received little food or water for their journey which would take up to ten days to complete.

    OutsideOnline.com called the Darien Gap, the “world’s most dangerous jungle.” Writer Jason Motlagh investigated the smuggling route at about the same time Kahn sent his human cargo through the jungle. He wrote:

    For centuries the lure of the unknown has attracted explorers, scientists, criminals, and other dubious characters to the Gap, a 10,000-square-mile rectangle of swamp, mountains, and rainforest that spans both sides of the border between Colombia and Panama. Plenty of things here can kill you, from venomous snakes to murderous outlaws who want your money and equipment. We’ve come to find the most improbable travelers imaginable: migrants who, by choice, are passing through the Darién region from all over the world, in a round-about bid to reach the United States and secure refugee status.

    As traditional pathways to the U.S. become more difficult, Cubans, Somalis, Syrians, Bangladeshis, Nepalis, and many more have been heading to South American countries and traveling north, moving overland up the Central American isthmus. The worst part of this journey is through the Gap. The entire expanse, a roadless maze that travelers usually negotiate on foot and in boats, is dominated by narco traffickers and Cuba-backed guerrillas who’ve been waging war on the government of Colombia since 1964. Hundreds of migrants enter each year; many never emerge, killed or abandoned by coyotes (migrant smugglers) on ghost trails
    .

    Also during this time period, Breitbart Texas broke the news report that U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended five Pakistani men and one man from Afghanistan approximately 16 miles into the U.S. It is not known if these illegal aliens traveled via Kahn’s human smuggling network. The apprehension of the group occurred late on Monday night, November 16, 2015.

    One year later, Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby published an exclusive report confirming that officials working under the U.S. Customs and Border Protection umbrella arrested three other Pakistani males inside the U.S. in the Tucson Sector. One of the individuals had traveled to many countries that were not along his direct route to the U.S. This incident occurred shortly after officials arrested Kahn and extradited him from Qatar.

    Kahn instructed the aliens to communicate with him via WhatsApp, a private instant messaging system. He told them to delete all communications from their app before surrendering to U.S. Immigration officials at the U.S. border where they would claim asylum. He also instructed them not to explain how they traveled from their home country to their arrival at the U.S. Port of Entry.

    During questioning, the aliens identified Kahn and other conspirators from photo arrays presented by investigators. Kahn reportedly supplied some of the immigrants with forged documents.

    Kahn’s involvement in the conspiracy included the management of “safe houses” along the journey. He also coordinated with other human smugglers to move the human cargo along the route. He admitted to smuggling between 26 and 99 illegal aliens into the United States for personal profit, including the aliens listed in the indictment.

    The convicted Pakistani human smuggler now faces a sentencing hearing on July 6, 2017. The judge could impose a penalty of between two and five years in prison and a fine of up to $150,000.

    Immigration officials will remove him from the United States upon completion of his prison term as part of the plea agreement.

    http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2017/...ountrymen-u-s/
    Last edited by Jean; 10-18-2017 at 12:04 AM.
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Judy's Avatar
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    Get all the names of all the people he hauled in here and go get them!!
    A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation - Ronald Reagan
    Save America, Deport Congress! - Judy

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    Pakistani mastermind of ‘terrorism’ immigrant smuggling plot sentenced to 31 months

    Sharafat Ali Khan brought dozens of people from terrorist hot-spots into the U.S.

    By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, October 17, 2017

    A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced the mastermind of a smuggling ring who brought dozens of illegal immigrants from terrorist hot spots into the U.S. to 31 months in prison, rejecting the man’s pleas for leniency and saying he could have ended up getting Americans killed.

    Sharafat Ali Khan, while acknowledging his guilt, denied he was the main smuggler, and said he was surprised he’s the only person arrested and prosecuted in the ring, which investigators said helped more than 100 illegal immigrants from Pakistan and Afghanistan sneak into the U.S.

    At least one of the men Khan helped had been flagged on the terrorist no-fly list, with family ties to the Taliban, and had been implicated in a plot to conduct an attack in the U.S. or Canada, The Washington Times has learned.

    U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton didn’t mention that specific incident at Tuesday’s sentencing, but said Khan had played loose with American security by helping sneak people across the U.S.-Mexico border.

    “You don’t know whether they’re seeking a better life or whether they’re trying to get in here to engage in terrorism,” the judge said.

    “Just because you had good intentions doesn’t mean the people you were helping have good intentions. People could have died, people could have gotten injured, families could have lost loved ones,” Judge Walton scolded Khan.

    Judge Walton did show some leniency, cutting what could have been a 37-month sentence down to 31 months. He said that Americans sentenced for the same crime usually would be released into a halfway house for their final six months. Since Khan will be deported and can’t be released to a halfway house, he can skip his final six months, the judge said.

    Khan, though, had been asking to be set free immediately, saying he’s already served more than 16 months in custody while awaiting trial and sentencing, and said his mother is ailing and his wife and young child at home in Pakistan need him.

    The judge agreed to count the time served against the 31-month sentence, but rejected his demand for immediate release, saying other would-be smugglers need to be taught a lesson.

    “If people feel you’re just going to get a slap on the wrist, why not do it?” he said.

    Khan pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to smuggle illegal immigrants for profit, but his sentencing proved to be a complex affair, with the convict insisting he was being unfairly credited with organizing the operation.
    He insisted he was just a bit player.

    Still, as he appeared Tuesday in an orange prison jumpsuit in federal court in Washington, under guard of U.S. Marshals, he broke down in tears before the judge and insisted he’d learned his lesson.

    “I made a mistake. I broke the American law,” he said through an interpreter.

    But he also struck a defiant note, wondering why he’s the only person to have been apprehended from what he said was an extensive network involving dozens of people across 10 countries.

    “Why was it only me that they brought?” Khan said. “Perhaps my misfortune is that I am a poor Pakistani.”

    Federal authorities have identified others involved in the smuggling operation. The Times has withheld names at the request of the government, which says it is still working to snare them.

    During earlier proceedings, Khan had portrayed his smuggling as a humanitarian mission, saying he wanted to help poor Middle Easterners find a better life in the U.S.

    Prosecutors portrayed him as an unscrupulous, thrice-married, spouse-abusing drug user who risked U.S. national security in order to make quick cash, keeping his customers holed up for months, then forcing them to fend for themselves during the long journey.

    Migrants said they paid up to $12,000 to be smuggled from the Middle East through Brazil, then across the Western Hemisphere to try to enter the U.S. They described being kept at one of Khan’s homes in Brasilia for months, then finally sent north — all the while in contact with Khan.

    Brazil, and the Sao Paulo airport in particular, are attractive transit points for smugglers because immigration checks are “very lax,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Michael Stempinski testified in court earlier this year.

    He said Khan’s network was perhaps the largest operation smuggling people from Pakistan to the U.S., with upwards of 100 people who have been arrested and who have identified Khan as their smuggler during a two-year period from 2014 to 2016.

    After his arrest, the number of people sneaking in from Pakistan “decreased significantly,” Mr. Stempinski testified.

    https://www.washingtontimes.com/news...-illegal-immi/
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