Posted on 09/15/2002 8:24:29 AM PDT by browardchad
Two men from Pakistan and Sri Lanka were held without bail Friday on charges that they smuggled Middle Easterners into the United States through third countries for $20,000 each.
Iqbal Munawar and Chelliah Sri Kajamukam were arrested late Thursday at Miami International Airport on charges filed in New York, federal authorities said.
They made federal court appearances Friday and were ordered to return to court for bond hearings Thursday.
An Indian businessman led the smuggling ring, which illegally flew people to Miami and New York and carried them to the United States by boat, FBI agent Timothy Ryan wrote in a court affidavit.
Nathu Babu Dhamelia, allegedly the head of a five-member ring, has issued more than 1,500 Cuban visas to people trying to reach the United States, according to an anonymous tip, the affidavit said.
His whereabouts were not immediately known. Dhamelia was described by the tipster as an honorary Cuban consul.
The Customs Service in Miami intercepted a DHL package addressed to Dhamelia in New Delhi last month, Ryan's report said. The package contained 55 blank Cuban tourist visas and two blank Jamaican immigration cards.
Kajamukam, 37, is a Canadian citizen born in Sri Lanka. He was arrested after flying Thursday from the Bahamas to Miami, after a U.S. immigration inspector in the Bahamas found several blank Canadian immigration forms for sponsoring the arrival of immigrants in the United States.
Munawar, 40, a Pakistani national, was arrested Thursday night at the Miami airport. He initially denied it but later told airport agents that he and Dhamelia traveled together in Ecuador on import-export business this year.
An Ecuadorean flight manifest showed Dhamelia and Munawar were assigned to seats next to each other on a domestic flight last April 30.
The investigation was based on an anonymous letter received at the U.S. consulate in Bombay, India, in June 2001.
The letter said Dhamelia and Kajamukam were involved in an attempt to smuggle 29 people by ship from Ecuador through Panama to the United States, Ryan's affidavit said.
Interviewed Tuesday in Mahwah, N.J., Dhamelia's wife told Ryan and other FBI agents that her husband smuggled people by air from Jamaica and by boat.
And these given names/surnames are obviously interchangeable. There is some hope on the technology front, with the development of software such as the Name Reference Library , which "analyzes name origins, tells the user whether or not multiple middle and last names are in the right order (Egyptian- and Saudi-born citizens often use multiple generational names), and provides a list of the top 10 spelling variants as well as gender associations" -- as well as a similar breakthrough with phenome indexing software.
The problem is that this expensive technology is unlikely to filter down to the front lines -- local LE -- anytime soon.
Oh, that was the American Indian immigration control. Do you think they regret not having better, more adequate border control?
ROFL!!
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I was going to say I don't know about the other poster, but my ancestors came by whatever means were LEGAL and became productive, law-abiding Americans - some to fight in the Revolutionary war, others later.
Now my husband's ancestors were some of the ones with the original 'out of control immigration' you referred to--------
He tells me there is some stories that the Indians at the time of the first white man's coming were strenuously questioning letting them come and stay. It seems the leaders told them not to worry, these were hard-working, God-fearing people and they were bringing them beads and other gifts and they could only add to the economy.
He says if we continue to allow the unlimited immigration, the Indians will try to make room for everyone on the 'Reservations'.
Nathu Babu Dhamelia, allegedly the head of a five-member ring, has issued more than 1,500 Cuban visas to people trying to reach the United States, according to an anonymous tip, the affidavit said.The Customs Service in Miami intercepted a DHL package addressed to Dhamelia in New Delhi last month, Ryan's report said. The package contained 55 blank Cuban tourist visas and two blank Jamaican immigration cards.
after a U.S. immigration inspector in the Bahamas found several blank Canadian immigration forms for sponsoring the arrival of immigrants in the United States.
The letter said Dhamelia and Kajamukam were involved in an attempt to smuggle 29 people by ship from Ecuador through Panama to the United States, Ryan's affidavit said
I colored this red for the PRC...(Panama and Cuba would be too dangerous for Chinese trying to escape, I would think.)
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