Indian detained over charges of smuggling foreign nationals into United States

On charges of smuggling foreign nationals into the US for private financial gain, a 38-year-old Indian national named Bhavin Patel has been arrested, according to Department of Justice.

New Jersey US Attorney Craig Carpenito said, he is charged with one count of conspiracy to bring in and harbour foreigners and six counts of smuggling foreign nationals into the US via commercial airline flights.

He is scheduled to be charged before US District Judge John Michael Vazquez on December 18, 2018.

If he gets convicted then he might face a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison, he was arrested by special agents of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) on December 7, at Newark Liberty International Airport.

He told the undercover law enforcement officer that he wanted to smuggle Indian nationals into the US.

He or his conspirator transported the Indian nationals on three occasions to an airport in Thailand, at which point the undercover law enforcement officer would purportedly use his contacts to smuggle them into the US via commercial airline flights.