Foreigners detained in Brazil for smuggling people

Brazil’s Federal Police on Tuesday (Aug 20) arrested three men accused of spearheading a scheme to illegally take foreigners to the US via São Paulo.

None of them is Brazilian. The group comprises an Argentine, a South-African, and an Iranian. They are believed to have counterfeited visas so that people from Eastern Africa could enter the country through São Paulo’s International Airport of Guarulhos. Seventy-two people said to have been taken by gang members have been identified.

The crackdown started in July last year, with data from the US immigration agency. The testimonies of the four people coming to the US illegally pointed towards a gang active in São Paulo. The police reported that the immigrants paid $5 thousand to $7 thousand to make the crossing from their country of origin to the US border.

From São Paulo, people were taken to Rio Branco, capital of the northern state of Acre, where they overstepped the Peruvian border. The trip lasted some 90 days, and crossed Ecuador, Colombia, and Panama, including wooded stretches. Immigrants came from Somalia, Yemen, Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Eritrea. Most were men aged 20 to 30.

Leader

The Algerian refugee was named as gang leader. According to the authorities, he lived in a settlement and owned a tourist agency, which he used to spearhead the scheme. The Iranian man was in Brazil with an investor’s visa and the South-African also had refugee status granted by the Brazilian government. In addition to data provided by foreign authorities, the Federal Police intercepted e-mail and telephone conversations of those accused of taking part in the wrongdoings.

According to Federal Police Commissioner Milton Fornazari, São Paulo plays a key role for immigrants from other continents planning on illegally entering US territory. “What we found is that today the biggest route for illegal immigration to the US starts in São Paulo. São Paulo is the gateway in the American continent for this land route for immigrants coming from other continents,” he said.