A Somali national living in Winnipeg is facing human smuggling charges after federal police detained eight African migrants near the Canada-U.S. border in Manitoba.
Officers from the RCMP Federal Policing Northwest Region’s Integrated Border Enforcement Team in Manitoba and their U.S. counterparts became aware of a border breach Aug. 22 west of the Gretna port of entry, police said in a press release.
Migrants were found walking north from the border shortly after 10:30 p.m., where they were picked up by a man driving a rental vehicle, the RCMP said.
The eight migrants and the driver were arrested and taken into custody at the Emerson RCMP detachment after officers conducted a traffic stop.
Eight people ranging in age from 19 to 48 were arrested under the Customs Act. Four males and one female were from the Republic of Chad, two males were from the Republic of Sudan, and one female was from the Republic of Guinea, police said.
Somali national Abshir Mohamed Osman, 35, who resides in Winnipeg, was charged with human smuggling under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. He is to appear in Emerson Provincial Court on Oct. 16.
“We were able to interview all eight subjects with the assistance of RCMP officers who speak French and Arabic,” Manitoba IBET chief Sgt. Lance Goldau said in the press release. “After our processes were completed, all of the migrants were turned over to Canada Border Services Agency for their processing, and we continue with the smuggling investigation against the suspect.”
Ontario RCMP in July announced the dismantling of a large-scale human smuggling ring that funnelled illegal migrants into the United States near Cornwall, Ont. Cornwall is connected to Massena, New York by the Three Nations border crossing.
Investigators from the Cornwall Regional Task Force began investigating the human smuggling ring in 2022, the RCMP said in a June 6 press release.
The group is accused of smuggling hundreds of migrants through communities along the St. Lawrence River across borders into the United States between July 2022 and June 2023, police said. The migrants were allegedly charged thousands of dollars for “dangerous night-time crossings” that cost some of them their lives.
Six Quebec residents and two people from Ontario have been charged in connection with the smuggling operation. Four of the suspects have been arrested and arrest warrants have been issued for the remaining four.
Human smuggling is a transnational crime that generally involves the consent of the person or people being smuggled, according to the Public Safety Canada website.
Once smuggled individuals arrive in their destination country, they are generally free to do as they wish, the government department said. The source of profit for human smuggling is the fee charged for the smuggling services.
