5th April 2023 – A New York court has charged, Simranjit Singh a.k.a. “Shally” Singh, age 40, with human smuggling and conspiracy.

Singh was extradited to the United States from Canada last week. At the request of US authorities, he was taken into custody by the Canadian police on 28th June 2022.

Singh has been charged on the following counts.

• Conspiracy to commit alien smuggling X 3
• Alien smuggling for profit X 6

He allegedly was involved and facilitated the smuggling of Indian nationals from Canada into the US via Cornwall Island and the Akwesasne Mohawk Indian Reservation in the St. Lawrence River region between March 2020and March 2021.

If found guilty, Singh faces at least 5 years and up to 15years in prison as well as at least 3 years of post-imprisonment supervised release. This case is being jointly investigated by US Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, the OPP, the Canadian Border Service Agency and the RCMP.

Although, this case is not related to the recent tragedy that took place where eight people, including 4 Indians, died trying to cross illegally into the US from the Canadian border (https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/indian-police-identify-family-who-died-crossing-illegally-into-u-s-from-akwesasne-1.6339988) yet there are striking similarities in the modus operandi.

As per a CBC report (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/smuggling-akwesasne-simranjit-singh-1.6803168) he ‘allegedly acted as a broker, charging $ 5,000 to $ 35,000 per person to smuggle mainly Indian nationals into the US’. The report also stated that he likely has smuggled over 1,000 people across US-Canada border.