Two Toronto men have been charged for allegedly trying to smuggle 10 Malaysian nationals into the U.S. disguised as a tour group going to visit Ground Zero in New York
"These people were posing as a tour group in an attempt to enter the U.S.," said Winston Barrus, deputy district director of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS). Barrus said the group was intercepted March 9, packed in two minivans at a Thousand Islands border crossing in Ontario.
Police said the Malaysians arrived in Canada as visitors and are accused of carrying doctored visas to enter the U.S. Barrus said the Malaysians paid about US $5,000 each for the trip to the U.S.
They claimed they were going to see the ruins of the World Trade Centre which was attacked by terrorists last September. Sun Jun Yue, 41, and Wu Peng Gao, 30, of Toronto, have been charged with smuggling illegal aliens into the U.S.
They were ordered held on $10,000 bail each at a court appearance in New York. Eight members of the alleged tour group were charged with making false statements to enter the U.S. and could face up to six months in jail, in addition to being deported.
In a separate incident, a Chinese couple and a Singaporean man, aged between 20 and 40 years old, were detained by policemen at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport minutes before they boarded an aircraft to Canada last week.
Police seized several fake Malaysian passports, identification cards and other documents from the trio.
Malaysian police identified the Singaporean as a member of a syndicate which arranges for Chinese and Sri Lankan nationals to be sent to Canada via Kuala Lumpur with false papers. They had been monitoring the syndicate for some time "If their flights are delayed, the syndicates will also get them accommodation in budget hotels until everything is ready," a police official was quoted as saying.
He said Malaysian passports were always in demand for use by the illegals as there were no visa requirements for Malaysians to travel to Canada and other Commonwealth countries.
