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A man who led a complex, transnational operation smuggling hundreds of people from India into the U.S. was sentenced to five years in prison.
Yadvinder Singh Sandhu, a 62-year old Indian citizen was sentenced Tuesday (April 23) for his leadership role in the human smuggling conspiracy, which claimed at least one life and endangered many others. After serving five years in prison, he will also have three years of supervised release.
On Jan. 18, 2019, Sandhu pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and 15 counts of smuggling aliens to the United States for profit before U.S. Magistrate Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll of the District of Puerto Rico. District Judge Carmen C. Cerezo accepted the guilty plea and sentenced the defendant.
Sandhu was charged in an indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the District of Puerto Rico on March 15, 2017. Sandhu has also used the names “Yadvinder Singh Bhamba,” “Bhupinder Kumar,” “Rajinder Singh,” “Robert Howard Scott” and “Atkins Lawson Howard.”
The boat trips organized by smuggling operation to transport aliens from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. were perilous. Boat captains used old, damaged, cracked, unlicensed, overcrowded and unsafe boats to make the journey. In at least one instance, an alien died in a boat on his way to the United States, according to court documents.
At times, the smugglers would take passports from the aliens during their journeys, physically assault them and threaten their families to collect money. Aliens paid between $30,000 and $85,000 to be smuggled from India to the U.S. to cover expenses for travel, housing, basic necessities, fake documents and other services.
There were additional charges of $1,500 to $3,000 for those who landed in Haiti to go to the Dominican Republic.
Those who could not pay faced threats to themselves and their families in India, had their passports taken from them or were physically harmed.
As part of the conspiracy, Sandhu directed associates to unlawfully smuggle so-called clients to Puerto Rico. Sandhu personally met the Indian nationals in various countries along their journeys, including in Dubai, Thailand, Iran, and the Dominican Republic, and he communicated with them throughout their journeys, which began approximately in January 2016.
The investigation was conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Homeland Security Investigations. The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.
Responding to a question, Nicole Navas, a DOJ spokesperson clarified that the case "involves human smuggling, not human trafficking."
Though an Indian national, Bhamba is no stranger to the US or the prison system there. He illegally entered the US when he was 20 or 21 years old, going in from Canada.
He lived in New York for 10 years, then California for another two before moving to New Jersey.
Around 1992, he began smuggling people to the US. After being caught for transporting 12 Indians to Florida state, he was convicted in 1999 and jailed for a year before being deported back to India.
In 2000, he returned to the US, calling himself Rajinder Kumar and tried to acquire a US visa. By 2013, he was back to human smuggling.
According to Sandhu’s plea agreement, since 2013, Sandhu had led a human smuggling conspiracy operating out of the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico, India and elsewhere. Sandhu admitted he personally assisted around 400 aliens to unlawfully enter the United States between 2013 and 2015 as part of the conspiracy. He also oversaw and directed co-conspirators operating out of the Caribbean.
Sandhu and other members of the conspiracy made flight arrangements for undocumented immigrants to travel from India through other countries – including Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Iran, Panama, Venezuela, Belize and Haiti – to the Dominican Republic.
Sandhu and other members of the conspiracy made flight arrangements for undocumented immigrants to travel from India through other countries – including Thailand, the United Arab Emirates, Argentina, Iran, Panama, Venezuela, Belize and Haiti – to the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican Republic was used as a staging area, where aliens were housed before being transported to the U.S. The organization brought groups of aliens from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico or Florida by boat. Once the clients reached Puerto Rico or Florida, they were picked up by other members of the operation and taken to stash houses until flights could be arranged to California, New York, or elsewhere in the U.S. carrying with them fake IDs.
The boat trips organized by smuggling operation to transport aliens from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. were perilous. Boat captains used old, damaged, cracked, unlicensed, overcrowded and unsafe boats to make the journey. In at least one instance, an alien died in a boat on his way to the United States, according to court documents.
At times, the smugglers would take passports from the aliens during their journeys, physically assault them and threaten their families to collect money. Aliens paid between $30,000 and $85,000 to be smuggled from India to the U.S. to cover expenses for travel, housing, basic necessities, fake documents and other services.
There were additional charges of $1,500 to $3,000 for those who landed in Haiti to go to the Dominican Republic.
Those who could not pay faced threats to themselves and their families in India, had their passports taken from them or were physically harmed.
As part of the conspiracy, Sandhu directed associates to unlawfully smuggle so-called clients to Puerto Rico. Sandhu personally met the Indian nationals in various countries along their journeys, including in Dubai, Thailand, Iran, and the Dominican Republic, and he communicated with them throughout their journeys, which began approximately in January 2016.
In some instances, Sandhu created and provided to authorities in those countries false employment documents on behalf of the aliens to obtain foreign visas. Sandhu also instructed aliens traveling through foreign airports how to find, and in some instances, pay cash to, corrupt immigration officials, passport control officers, or airport employees in order to bypass regular immigration and passport control procedures.
The incident that tripped up the smugglers involved 15 Indian citizens who had just arrived in the Dominican Republic in July of 2016 after making the long-multi-country route.
The incident that tripped up the smugglers involved 15 Indian citizens who had just arrived in the Dominican Republic in July of 2016 after making the long-multi-country route.
On July 25, 2016, Sandhu alerted his underlings in Puerto Rico to be ready to receive 15 aliens. On July 27, 2016, 15 Indian nationals were transported from the DR to Puerto Rico in a 22-foot wooden vessel designed to avoid detection. Although the size of the boat should have limited the number of occupants to eight people, it carried 15 so-called clients, plus the captain and crew members who members of the conspiracy.
The human cargo was supposed to be met in Puerto Rico by another smuggler, but they were arrested instead. Interrogation of the so-called clients and crew led authorities to Sandhu, who was arrested in the Dominican Republic in August 2017, and shortly thereafter extradited to Puerto Rico.
The human cargo was supposed to be met in Puerto Rico by another smuggler, but they were arrested instead. Interrogation of the so-called clients and crew led authorities to Sandhu, who was arrested in the Dominican Republic in August 2017, and shortly thereafter extradited to Puerto Rico.
The investigation was conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and Homeland Security Investigations. The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.
Responding to a question, Nicole Navas, a DOJ spokesperson clarified that the case "involves human smuggling, not human trafficking."
Though an Indian national, Bhamba is no stranger to the US or the prison system there. He illegally entered the US when he was 20 or 21 years old, going in from Canada.
He lived in New York for 10 years, then California for another two before moving to New Jersey.
Around 1992, he began smuggling people to the US. After being caught for transporting 12 Indians to Florida state, he was convicted in 1999 and jailed for a year before being deported back to India.
In 2000, he returned to the US, calling himself Rajinder Kumar and tried to acquire a US visa. By 2013, he was back to human smuggling.
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