Indian-origin man smuggled over 800 Indians to US using Uber, jailed for 3 yrs

An Indian-origin man has been jailed for over three years for smuggling more than 800 Indian citizens into the US using ride-hailing app Uber. Rajinder Pal Singh, aka Jaspal Gill, admitted that he took in more than $500,000 as a key member of a smuggling ring, bringing in hundreds of Indian nationals across the border from Canada, said the US Department of Justice. Singh pleaded guilty in February.  

Acting US Attorney Tessa M. Gorman said that a court sentenced Singh, a resident of California, to 45 months in prison for "conspiracy to transport and harbor certain aliens for profit and conspiracy to commit money laundering". 

Over a four-year period, she said, Singh arranged for more than 800 people to be smuggled into the US across the northern border and into Washington State.

The attorney asserted that Singh's conduct was not just a security risk for Washington but also subjected those smuggled to security and safety perils during the often weeks-long smuggling route from India to the US. 

"Singh's participation in this conspiracy preyed upon the Indian nationals' hopes for a better life in the US while saddling those smuggled with a crushing debt of as much as USD 70,000," Gorman said. 

From July 2018, Singh and his co-conspirators used Uber to transport people who had illegally crossed the border from Canada to the Seattle area, the department said. From mid-2018 to May 2022, Singh arranged more than 600 trips involving the transportation of Indian nationals illegally smuggled into the US. 

From July 2018 to April 2022, the 17 Uber accounts tied to the smuggling ring ran up more than $80,000 in charges, accoridng to investigation estimates. The department said that Singh's co-conspirators would use the one-way vehicle rentals to transport those smuggled to their ultimate destinations outside Washington state in trips that usually began near the border in the early hours and were split between different rides. 

The members of the smuggling ring also used sophisticated means to launder the illicit proceeds. In the plea agreement, Singh admitted that the purpose of the complex money movement was to obscure the illegal nature of the funds. Investigators also found about $45,000 in cash and counterfeit identity documents from one of Singh's homes in California, the department said. It added that Singh, who is not legally present in the US, will likely be deported following his prison term. 

(With inputs from PTI)