New sanctions imposed on alleged international human smuggling operation
The Bhardwaj group is accused of smuggling thousands of people from across the world into the United States from Mexico.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday imposed broad sanctions on an alleged Mexican criminal network accused of running an international human smuggling and money-laundering ring across several continents.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) targeted Vikrant Bhardwaj, the Indian-Mexican national accused of leading the Bhardwaj Human Smuggling Organization from Cancun, Mexico. In addition, the U.S. sanctioned three of his alleged associates and 16 companies believed to have facilitated and profited from the group’s criminal activities. The action freezes any U.S.-linked assets and bars American firms from doing business with those on the sanction list.
Treasury Department officials said the Bhardwaj organization has smuggled thousands of undocumented immigrants from Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia into the United States.
In a statement Thursday, officials said the Bhardwaj group utilized its own yachts and marinas to support its human smuggling operation in Mexico. The organization is thought to have housed migrants in hostels and hotels before coordinating with associates and corrupt officials to move them toward the U.S.-Mexico border, charging thousands of dollars to each migrant. The group is also accused of working with other sanctioned criminal organizations to funnel people through the so-called Tapachula-Cancun-Mexicali corridor detailed below.
“Today’s action, in collaboration with our law enforcement partners, disrupts this network’s ability to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States,” said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence John K. Hurley. “The Trump Administration will continue to target and dismantle terrorist transnational criminal organizations to protect the American people.”
The designations were made under Executive Order 13863, a holdover from Trump’s first term which targets transnational criminal organizations and their support structures. Leaders of the OFAC said they worked with the Mexican government to bring about the new sanctions.
Officials said the moves are intended to disrupt the group’s global financial infrastructure and cut off access to front companies used to launder profits from smuggling and drug operations.