RCMP bust human smuggling ring in N.B. and Ontario

The RCMP havecharged four people they say were smuggling migrants into the United States from New Brunswick and Ontario.

The RCMP said Wednesdaythey executed search warrants at homes in Fredericton, St. Stephen and Scarborough, Ont.

The group was involved in the illegal transport of migrants into the United States from St. Stephen and Scarborough, according to police.

The RCMP investigationprevented the groupfrom sending two migrants from Guyana into the United States.

Savita Singh, 43, of St. Stephen and Vaughn McLuskey, 71, of Fredericton were arrested in New Brunswick. And Mohammed Habib-Yusef, 53, and Ravindra Hariprasad, 36, were arrested in Toronto.

All four have been charged with criminal conspiracy to violate immigration laws and are to appear in St. Stephen provincial court on Thursday.

One Ontario man was charged on May 11 in a Fredericton court, so the proper warrants would be in place to transport him to New Brunswick so thefour accused could appear in court on Thursday.

Human smuggling connected to other crimes: sergeant

RCMP Sgt. Wesley Blair said on Wednesday thatgangs such as this charge a "substantial amount of money" to move people across borders, and that leads to other problems.

"Human smuggling is often connected to other serious crimes, such as drug smuggling and money laundering," he said.

"Since organized crime groups involved in human smuggling are profit-driven, they do not often distinguish between migrants who are looking for a better way of life and those who could possibly be dangerous criminals."

Blair said police also picked up two adults from Guyana believed to have been theindividualswho were to have beensmuggled into the United States.

"The migrants that were arrested were illegally in Canada. The two were turned over toCanada Border Services [Agency]for their actions," he said.

It's not the first time the RCMP have stopped human smuggling in New Brunswick.

The police broke up attempts to smuggle people into the United States in the St. Stephen area in 2007 and 2005. The RCMP say the latest case is not connected to those.