An Ontario man is facing charges of conspiracy to commit an offence in the United States for allegedly helping to smuggle individuals across the border from Canada, near Dundee.
According to an RCMP investigation by the Valleyfield detachment, Kamalanathan Kathapillai, 61, of Barrie, conspired to transport four people to an unguarded location along the Canada-U.S. border on April 25, 2024.
Kathapillai was arrested in his vehicle that same day. Officers seized $1,100 in Canadian currency and $1,100 in U.S. dollars. His car was also seized as offence-related property. He is scheduled to appear on March 10 at the Salaberry-de-Valleyfield courthouse.
In a statement, the RCMP explained that “Smugglers facilitate the entry of people into Canada or the United States by illegal means, while making a profit off of them.” The federal police force added that the large sums of money paid to smugglers have turned irregular migration into a lucrative business.
Cases in the United States
The United States Attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York has also been processing smuggling cases involving this area, investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers in the Swanton sector.
A resident of Chazy, New York, was indicted in early February on five felony counts of human smuggling and conspiracy. Bailey Burger was charged with smuggling four Indian nationals into the U.S. from Canada in Churubusco, which is near Franklin, on January 26. If convicted, he faces between five and 15 years in prison. He was expected to appear before the U.S. District Court in Plattsburgh last week.
A 41-year-old Colombian citizen was sentenced on February 14 to 18 months in prison on similar charges of smuggling and conspiracy. Diego Guisao-Zapata admitted to helping two people, one from Mexico and the other from the Dominican Republic, cross into the U.S. along the border in Churubusco, New York, on August 25, 2024, for profit. Following his release from prison, he will be taken into Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody for deportation proceedings. (SR)