MEXICO CITY (dpa-AFX) - The Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has imposed sanctions on a Mexican transnational criminal organization smuggling migrants into the United States.
The Tijuanao-based Abdul Karim Conteh Human Smuggling Organization has been smuggling migrants into the U.S. for years for financial gain in violation of U.S. immigration laws.
In addition to providing migrants with fraudulent documents, members of the Karim HSO leverage the U.S. financial system to receive payments for their illicit smuggling operations. Its standard methodology is to transport migrants to the U.S. border and advise them on how to cross the border illegally.
The Karim HSO is operating both regionally and globally, and has coordinated the movement of migrants through Nicaragua.
Sierra Leonean national Abdul Karim Conteh is the leader of the human smuggling organization. The U.S. Department of Treasury said he is responsible for smuggling thousands of migrants from Africa, China, the Middle East, Russia, Central Asia, and other countries into the United States. Karim's wife, Mexican national Veronica Roblero Pivaral, plays critical roles in the organization, ranging from driving migrants to the U.S. border to receiving payments for smuggling operations.
In addition to Karim and Veronica, OFAC also sanctioned Togolese citizen Pasaman Francis Marin Abbe Pidoukou and Sierra Leonean citizen Issa Kamara, who are responsible for facilitating the transport of migrants for the Karim HSO.
The Treasury said all properties of the designated persons in the United States have been blocked.
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