Luigi Cristinel Popescu of Cernatesti, a Romanian national, was extradited to the United States over the weekend and made his first appearance in federal court Aug. 17 to face charges that he is the leader of an international alien smuggling network responsible for smuggling thousands of Romanians into the United States.
Calexico special agents for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations worked closely with HSI attaché offices in Mexico, Guatemala, Spain, Austria and with foreign law enforcement agencies in a concerted effort to disrupt and dismantle the Popescu alien smuggling organization.
According to the superseding indictment, Popescu was the leader of an international alien smuggling organization for almost seven years and has been responsible for smuggling Romanian nationals into the United States at both its northern and southern borders.
HSI agents learned from interviews with Romanian nationals smuggled by Popescu, both those arrested and those who turned themselves into U.S. Border Patrol, that he facilitated the smuggling of aliens from Romania to the U.S. through Europe, Central America, Mexico and Canada, generally charging $10,000 to $25,000 for individuals and families.
The investigation revealed that Popescu worked with numerous co-conspirators in Romania, Spain, Guatemala and Mexico to facilitate the smuggling arrangements of thousands of Romanians.
According to the investigation, Popescu used WhatsApp and FaceTime to remain in contact with aliens being smuggled, providing instructions and contacts along the way, including the name and number for smugglers in route to the United States.
Popescu would send a picture of the Romanian aliens to co-conspirators and instructed the aliens that smugglers on their route would be waiting for them and would have their picture.
https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/suspected-international-alien-smuggler-extradited-us-romania
No comments:
Post a Comment