Alleged Human Smuggler Extradited To U.S. To Face Charges
By <
http://www.newsroomamerica.com/author/2.html> Newsroom America Staff at
7:40 am Eastern
29/04/2014
(Newsroom America) -- Habtom Merhay, a national of Eritrea and a citizen of
the United Kingdom, has made his initial appearance in Washington, D.C.,
federal court to face human smuggling charges for his role in smuggling
primarily Eritrean and Ethiopian undocumented migrants from Dubai, United
Arab Emirates, through South and Central America and Mexico into the United
States.
Merhay, 47, arrived in the United States on April 25 and made his initial
appearance yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah A. Robinson in the
District of Columbia.
Merhay has been in the custody of Moroccan authorities pending extradition
since his arrest in Marrakech, Morocco, in August 2013.
The indictment charges Merhay with one count of conspiracy to bring
undocumented migrants to the United States for profit and 15 counts of
unlawfully bringing an undocumented migrant to the United States for profit.
Court documents allege that Merhay operated with a network of smugglers in
Africa, the United Arab Emirates, South and Central America, Mexico and
elsewhere to coordinate and implement arrangements, including providing
fraudulent identity and travel documents, for undocumented migrants to
travel through Latin America and ultimately into the United States without
authorization.
For up to $15,000, Merhay arranged for individual undocumented migrants to
travel from points in Africa to a house or apartment in Dubai, where he
provided travel documents, tickets and instructions for meeting other
smugglers while on the way to the United States.
Merhay coordinated the migrants' air travel to South America, where they
would meet with Merhay's associates, who would direct or guide them across
the various country borders.
The undocumented migrants then met with other smugglers associated with
Merhay and were further guided north to Mexico and then into the United
States, sometimes by crossing the Rio Grande River by raft.
Received on Tue Apr 29 2014 - 19:40:51 EDT