New Delhi: The US borde authorities arrested six Indian nationals aged between 19 to 21 years, apprehended on a sinking boat during aa failed attempt to smuggle into America from Canada, news agency PTI reported.
The US Customs and Border Protection issued a statement on Thursday in which it said that with assistance from the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service, and the Hogansburg-Akwesasne Volunteer Fire Department (HAVFD), the U.S. Border Patrol agents from the Massena Border Patrol Station apprehended seven individuals in connection with a failed smuggling attempt on early Thursday morning.
Six of the individuals areidentified as Indian nationals aged between 19 to 21 years and have been charged with Improper Entry by Alien in violation of US law. The seventh individual in the group is a US citizen who is hcarged with Allien smuggling, a felony which carries a penalty of a fine and upto 10 years imprisonment foreach violation.
As per the PTI report, the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service was reported about suspicious activity which then notified the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service about a boat travelling from Canada near Ontario toward the US carrying multiple individuals.
The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department responded and found the vessel to be drowning in the Saint Regis River in Akwesasne. The Border Patrol agents and the HAVFD also arrived on the spot and found the vessel almost entirely underwater.
Freom the seven onboard, one had managed to exit the sinking boat and reached the shoreline. The HAVFD deployed a boat and was able to recover the other six “distressed subjects”. Authorities told PTI thate there were no life jackets or other safety equipment onboard the sinking boat.
Due to the temperature of the water being just above freezing, all the individuals were first treated for hypothermia andlater arrested by Border Patrol agents and transported to the Border Patrol Station for processing.
Chief of Police Matthew Rourke of the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribal Police Department said that cooperation between law enforcement and rescue services prevented what could have been a "horrific tragedy".
I emphasise that human smuggling is illegal and poses a significant danger to the Akwesasne community. We don't know the intentions or vaccination status of smuggled individuals, but more importantly, the time and resources spent in a rescue effort unnecessarily risk the lives of our first responders and our already strained emergency response services,” he said.
Massena Station's Patrol Agent in Charge Wade Laughman said the situation could have been “catastrophic,” PTI reported. He added, “human smuggling is not only a crime but extremely dangerous. Smugglers do not care about safety or human life; they only care about profits.”
This is not the first case of Indian nationals being found smuggling in the US. In January this year, a familyof four from Gujarat including twochildren were found dead near Emerson, Manitoba, approximately 12 metres from the Canada-US border.
Near the same time, seven others were also arrested near the US-Canada border who had entered inot the US illegally.