Three men have been arrested in Quebec’s Eastern Townships for allegedly conspiring to smuggle people into the United States, the RCMP said Tuesday.
The arrests are the latest in a series by the RCMP and Canadian government to show the U.S. that Canada is taking newly elected President Donald Trump‘s concerns about border security seriously.
The trio are accused of requiring passengers to pay $4,000 each to be carried into the U.S., police said.
The three men charged are:
- Edward Alejandro Rojas Sanchez, 24, of Montreal
- Julian Camilo Rojas Murcia, 27, of Laval, Que.
- Fernando Esparza Dominguez, 33, of Montreal
The suspects were each charged with conspiracy to commit an offence in the United States under Section 465(3) of Canada’s Criminal Code.
The men are scheduled to appear in Quebec court in Montreal on Feb. 4, the RCMP added.
The police did not indicate how many people the group had tried to transport into the U.S. or when.
The RCMP’s Integrated Border Enforcement team alleged the men had conspired to transport “a group of people from Montréal” to an unguarded location on the Canada-U.S. border “on at least one occasion.” No further details were released.
“By charging their passengers large sums of money to transport them, human smugglers have turned illegal migration into a lucrative business,” the RCMP said in a statement.
The latest arrests come after RCMP and OPP officers stopped another vehicle driven by another group on Jan. 8 near Cornwall, Ont.
That vehicle was headed toward the U.S. border and stopped by police in Cornwall, during which officers found eight people “concealed” in the back, police said.