Police crack down on alleged human smuggling rings operating in Canada

Rings based in Toronto, Montreal allegedly smuggled hundreds across U.S. border

Last Updated: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 | 6:32 PM ET

CBC News

Police have broken up two major human smuggling rings that allegedly snuck hundreds of illegal aliens into the United States from Canada.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Anderson points to charts describing the operations of a human smuggling ring on Wednesday in Burlington, Vt.
(Toby Talbot/Associated Press)

The rings, operating out of Toronto and Montreal since 2004, allegedly drove foreigners to the American border and guided them across on foot, avoiding roads and border crossings.

The aliens, who came to Canada from Korea, Pakistan, India and Central America, allegedly paid $10,000 per person for the service.

U.S. authorities, with the help of the RCMP, cracked down on the rings and are prepared to lay conspiracy charges against five people allegedly linked to the Montreal operation and six people said to be tied to the Toronto group.

Eight of the 11 have already been arrested, while federal prosecutors in the U.S. are still seeking two people in Canada and one in the U.S.

The leaders of the Toronto operation are said to be the husband-and-wife team of Chol Min Jang, 49, and Dal San Jang, 44. The Montreal group was allegedly led by Jose Manuel Galdamez-Serrano, 54, a native of El Salvador who lived in Quebec.

Federal prosecutors said the alleged rings are considered among the largest ever to operate in the northeastern United States. Once the illegal immigrants got across the U.S. border, they were driven to cities on the U.S. East Coast.

U.S. Attorney Thomas Anderson said human smuggling operations are a threat to U.S. safety, although there are not believed to be any terrorist ties to the alleged Toronto and Montreal rings.

"When an organization has established a pipeline to aliens from various countries, including countries with terrorists, into the United States, they don't care who's passing through that pipeline as long as they are paying," Anderson said from Burlington, Vt.

"They don't care if it's a family looking for a better life or a terrorist looking to harm America."

Anderson said efforts were underway to extradite the suspects to the United States. If convicted, they could get up to 15 years in prison on each smuggling charge.