3 alleged human smugglers from Montreal, Laval charged with conspiracy 

By Stéphane Blais, The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Quebec RCMP say three men have been charged for allegedly planning to help smuggle people into the United States.

Edward Alejandro Rojas Sanchez, 24, Julian Camilo Rojas Murcia, 27, and Fernando Esparza Dominguez, 33, are charged with conspiracy to commit an offence in the United States.

Two of the suspects are from Montreal and one is from the city’s Laval suburb.

The police force says an investigation by the Estrie integrated border enforcement team found that the suspects allegedly conspired to bring a group of people from Montreal to an unguarded location along the border in the Montérégie region on at least one occasion.

It was a citizen who, at the time, alerted the police that temporary workers were disappearing.

“A person who worked in a company that hires temporary foreign workers reported that his employees recruited abroad left suddenly, without explanation, even if the company offered to compensate them to return to their country of origin,” explained Corporal Érique Gasse.

 Érique Gasse added that “the investigation revealed that the employees were illegally escaping to the United States through these alleged smugglers.”

According to the investigation, the three accused allegedly conspired to transport foreign workers “from Montreal to an unguarded location on the Canada-US border, in Montérégie, on at least one occasion.”

According to Érique Gasse, “the investigation did not allow these individuals to be linked to any organized criminal group.”

The RCMP news release says the three accused allegedly charged each person $4,000.

They are expected to appear in court on Feb. 4 in Montreal.

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