Suspected smuggling operation shut down

SEATTLE – U.S. and Canadian authorities said Wednesday they have broken up a human smuggling ring suspected of illegally shepherding dozens of Indian and Pakistani nationals into Washington state from British Columbia.

A federal grand jury in Seattle has indicted 14 U.S. and Canadian men for their roles in the alleged scheme. Twelve had been arrested as of Wednesday.

Leigh Winchell, special agent in charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle, said investigators on both sides of the border have worked closely for more than a year, apprehending roughly 50 people who had paid up to $35,000 each to be smuggled into the United States.

Winchell said none of those smuggled or those involved in the operation were suspected of terrorism.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Doug Whalley said the arrests were the result of “exceptional communication” between law enforcement on both sides of the border.

“It allowed us to not just arrest one or two smugglers but to arrest the organization,” he said.

Canadian authorities plan to file 25 charges against some of the same 14 people and others, Whalley said. When the cases overlap, the two sides will meet and decide which country is in the best position to pursue the case, he said.

Investigators started tracking the Vancouver, B.C.-based operation in January 2005, when U.S. customs officials got a tip about three men near Oroville, Wash. The men had bought maps of the border and had asked about border patrol and Canadian police enforcement activity in the area, U.S. and Canadian officials said in a news release.

Several days later, border patrol agents intercepted a minivan carrying 10 illegal aliens near the Oroville port of entry. The van was registered to the man investigators believe was the ringleader of the operation: Kavel Multani, 46, a dual Canadian and Indian citizen living in Vancouver, B.C.

Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers arrested Multani on Tuesday, along with three other men believed to be involved in the smuggling ring: Nizar Sabaz-Ali, 38, a Pakistani citizen of North York, Ontario; Sandip Parhar, 26, a Canadian citizen of Delta, B.C.; and Armardeep Singh Powar, 23, an Indian citizen of Vancouver.