Category: smuggling

Miami Man Loses $6 Million Home, Freedom in $115 Million Scam Involving Baby Formula

By David J. Neal From Miami Herald A 7,700-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bathroom house and three units of an Aventura office building are the list of losses for a Golden Beach man after a massive commercial fraud that involved infant formula, eye-care products, and other products regulated by the FDA. Johnny Grobman, 48, won’t need the home…


English Channel People-Smuggling ‘Kingpin’ Facing Extradition to Belgium

A suspected “kingpin” of people-smuggling operations across the English Channel has been arrested and is facing extradition. Iranian Hewa Rahimpur was detained by officers in east London on Wednesday afternoon, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. The 29-year-old, who was living in Ilford, is wanted by authorities in Belgium, “where he is suspected of being…


Tunisia Detains Crew of Ship That Sank Off Its Coast This Month

TUNIS—A Tunisian judge detained seven crew members of a commercial ship that sank off the coast of the southern city of Gabes this month, a judicial official said on Wednesday, as authorities investigated whether the ship may have been deliberately sunk. Tunisian officials said this month that the ship, the Xelo, sank while heading from…


Boat Captain Pleads Guilty in 3 Smuggling Deaths Off San Diego Coast

By Kristina Davis From The San Diego Union-Tribune SAN DIEGO—The man at the helm of a smuggling boat that capsized off Point Loma, ending in the deaths of three migrants, pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court Wednesday to his role in the tragedy. Antonio Hurtado, a 40-year-old U.S. citizen, pleaded guilty to felony charges…


Man Linked to Manitoba Border Deaths Indicted in US on Human Smuggling Charges

MINNEAPOLIS—A federal grand jury in the United States has formally indicted a man on human smuggling charges after the deaths of four Indian migrants near the Canada-U.S. border last month. The U.S. Attorney’s office in Minneapolis announced the indictment on two counts of human smuggling. Steve Shand, who is 47 and from Florida, was allegedly…


Mexico Flooded America’s Borders With Secret ‘Ant Operation’: Todd Bensman

The Biden administration struck a deal with the Mexican government to delay the migrant caravans heading into the United States, yet by maintaining the allure of special benefits for people if they can reach the U.S. border, the incentive created a new crisis in Mexico. To get around this, the Mexican government launched an operation…


Mexico Flooded America’s Borders With Secret Human Smuggling ‘Ant Operation’: Todd Bensman

The Biden administration struck a deal with the Mexican government to delay the migrant caravans heading into the United States, yet by maintaining the allure of special benefits for people if they can reach the U.S. border, the incentive created a new crisis in Mexico. To get around this, the Mexican government launched an operation…


Mounties Say Autopsies Have Begun to Identify Four Found Dead Near US Border

WINNIPEG—Mounties say autopsies have begun to try to identify four people who were found dead in a frigid Manitoba blizzard near the United States border. The bodies of a man, a woman, a teen and a baby were discovered Jan. 19 in the snow near Emerson, Man. RCMP have said it’s believed they froze to…


US Detains Smuggling Ship, UK Seizes Drugs in Mideast Waters

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—The U.S. Navy announced Sunday it seized a boat in the Gulf of Oman carrying fertilizer used to make explosives that was caught last year smuggling weapons to Yemen. The British royal navy said it confiscated 1,041 kilograms (2,295 pounds) of illegal drugs in the same waters. The interdictions were just the…


Man Charged With Smuggling, Assault in Fatal Christmas Day Crash

SAN DIEGO—A man who allegedly crashed a car while fleeing from Border Patrol agents on Christmas Day, killing one of his passengers, was charged by federal authorities Dec. 27 with human smuggling and assaulting a federal officer. Kevin Antonio Quevedo-Moncada, 22, of Lake Forest, allegedly crashed into a tree after speeding away from Border Patrol…