https://justthenews.com/nation/states/center-square/chinese-nationals-illegally-us-arrested-east-texas-money-laundering
(The Center Square)
A rural East Texas district attorney has described how the border crisis is impacting her community after two Chinese nationals were arrested on money laundering charges.
Their arrest was not the first where “we have encountered Chinese nationals on the highway engaged in illegal activities. We had another large seizure about 11 months ago where we took a half a million dollars from two Chinese nationals,” Van Zandt County District Attorney Tonda Curry said in a news conference.
The recent arrests were the first involving gold bullion, she said. “Their story started with them leaving China and coming here to prey on Americans. It ends right now with us taking $250,000 worth of gold from their organization.”
Last Thursday, Wills Point Police Department Sgt. Charlie Hughes, a K-9 handler, was working traffic enforcement along I-20 when he pulled over two Chinese nationals in a White Chevy Malibu with Michigan plates committing a traffic violation.
Weijian Chen, 25, and Wenqiang Lin, 46, spoke no English and Hughes used a translation phone app to communicate. Lin, who rented the car, agreed to a search and Hughes’ decorated K-9 Hania found a bag full of gold bullion worth nearly $300,000 stuffed under the driver’s seat.
Both Chen and Lin said they didn’t know who the bag of gold belonged to. They were arrested. “Based on my training, I know that it is very unlikely that Lin or Chen could have transported the gold bullion through airport Transportation Security Administration security checkpoint with[out] filing a United States Currency Transaction Report,” Hughes said.
Their claims and suspicious activity fell flat, authorities said, like others arrested by Operation Lone Star officers, The Center Square first reported.
https://www.thecentersquare.com/texas/article_38428e0a-237e-11ef-a7e8-3b8acc936826.html
Looks like gold and money and drugs are not all that's being smuggled:
Texas Department of Public Safety troopers apprehend 15 Mexicans hiding in a pickup truck cab and tool box in Webb County.
Texas Department of Public Safety
Those being smuggled who’ve been apprehended have been found to be members of criminal gangs and cartels, potentially suspected terrorists, and wanted for violent crimes from other countries, Olivarez added. “It is very dangerous for anyone to pick up anybody, let alone a hitchhiker.”
“Criminal networks advertise on social media using deceptive advertising to recruit people, even young drivers, juveniles, who are told they can make $3,000 to$5,000 a person to drive them from one destination to another. But there are consequences,” he said, warning them, “don’t get involved.”
Among several new border security related laws that are in effect, one increases penalties for human smuggling to a mandatory 10-year minimum prison sentence.
Since Abbott launched OLS in March 2021, OLS officers have apprehended more than 512,300 illegal foreign nationals and made more than 43,400 criminal arrests, with more than 38,200 felony charges reported, according to the latest data.
Among them are more than 7,300 alleged smugglers who were arrested ranging from ages 13 to 77, according to DPS data.
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Next to stopping voter fraud the wide open border is "the" most important thing we have secure when Trump is back in office.
