SAN DIEGO — U.S. authorities on Wednesday announced the discovery of the longest smuggling tunnel ever found on the Southwest border, stretching more than three-quarters of a mile from an industrial site in Tijuana, Mexico, to the San Diego area. U.S. Customs and Border Protection said it featured an extensive...
What Crackdown? Migrant Smuggling Business Adapts, Thrives
HERMOSILLO, Mexico — The heavy-set man swept through a curtain into the reserved area of a nightclub as his bodyguard stood nearby. In the darkness, he agreed to talk about his business: handling the income from smuggling migrants across a 375-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border. “We control all the...
UK Police Expand Probe, Say 39 Dead in Truck All From China
LONDON — All 39 people found dead in a refrigerated container truck near an English port were Chinese citizens, British police confirmed Thursday as they investigated one of the country's deadliest cases of people smuggling. The Essex Police force said 31 men and eight women were found dead in the...
16 Pendleton Marines Arrested in Migrant Smuggling Investigation
SAN DIEGO — Sixteen Marines were pulled out a battalion formation Thursday morning at Camp Pendleton and arrested in connection with a human smuggling investigation. None of the Marines was involved in helping to enforce border security, the Marine Corps said in a news release. The base is located about an...
Iran State TV: Iranian Forces Seize Foreign Oil Tanker, Crew
TEHRAN, Iran — Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard forces seized a foreign oil tanker accused of smuggling oil, Iran's state TV reported Thursday. The vessel appears to be a United Arab Emirates-based tanker that had disappeared off trackers in Iranian territorial waters over the weekend. The seizure was the latest in...
Nearly 85 Percent of UN Nations Back Migration Deal; Not US
MARRAKECH, Morocco — Defying fierce opposition from the United States and a few other nations, nearly 85 percent of the countries at the U.N. agreed Monday on a sweeping yet non-binding accord to ensure safe, orderly and humane migration. The debate over the Global Compact for Migration, the first of...
California Judge Cracks Down on Smuggled Inmate Cellphones
SACRAMENTO — Judges in California and South Carolina have ordered cellphone carriers to disable nearly 200 contraband cellphones used by inmates to orchestrate crimes behind and outside prison walls, the most sweeping order of its kind ever won by corrections officials. It's an important victory for prison officials who have...