Inside ICE: Volume 2, Issue 18

Agents Arrest 59 in Dual Investigations

WASHINGTON, D.C. — FBI, ICE and other federal agents have arrested 59 people on charges related to international conspiracies to launder money and smuggle counterfeit U.S. currency, weapons, drugs and cigarettes into the United States.

Over the weekend of August 20-21, federal agents made arrests at 11 locations in the United States and Canada, including Atlantic City, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Chicago and Philadelphia.

The arrests were the result of two parallel undercover law enforcement operations. They involved unprecedented cooperation between the FBI; ICE; the U.S. Secret Service; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; U.S. Customs and Border Protection; the Royal Canadian Mounted Police; the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Department of Labor's Inspector General; and several state and local law enforcement agencies.

Following the arrests, federal indictments were unsealed in Los Angeles and Newark, New Jersey, naming 87 individuals in the international smuggling and counterfeiting operation on charges including violations of Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes; dealing in counterfeit U.S. currency; narcotics trafficking; money laundering; conspiracy to defraud the United States; and illegal weapons trafficking.

The two parallel investigations that led to the arrests included:

OPERATION ROYAL CHARM
Six indictments, including three racketeering indictments, were returned in the District of New Jersey charging 57 individuals. The FBI undercover operation revealed that the organization smuggled highly deceptive counterfeit U.S. currency, manufactured in a foreign country, into the United States on container ships with false bills of lading for toys, rattan furniture and other goods.

The containers were allegedly sent by defendants after extensive meetings with undercover agents. In addition, the operation revealed that the organization used the same methods to smuggle drugs into the United States. It further revealed that members of the organization with significant ties to factories overseas were manufacturing counterfeit cigarettes and then shipping them to the United States through the same methods as the counterfeit currency.

In an effort to orchestrate the arrest of many of the subjects in the Newark investigation, the FBI prepared and sent invitations to a ruse "wedding" for one of the FBI undercover agents. Many of the subjects were arrested on Sunday, believing they were going to the wedding celebration.

To date, Operation Royal Charm has resulted in the seizure of more than $3.3 million in counterfeit currency; $2 million in counterfeit cigarettes; 36,000 ecstasy pills; and almost one-half kilo of methamphetamine.

OPERATION SMOKING DRAGON
A second investigation, connected to the first by similar persons, resulted in four indictments by a federal grand jury in the Central District of California naming 30 defendants. The indictments allege that several individuals in California were importing counterfeit products, including cigarettes, from a foreign country through the Los Angeles and Long Beach waterfronts. An undercover operation arranged the shipment of these counterfeit goods into California for the purpose of identifying the entire criminal enterprise. Undercover agents posed as underworld criminals who could move these counterfeit products into the United States and Canada.

The defendants, believing they were dealing with other criminals, paid for some of the illegal shipments with counterfeit cigarettes.

The investigation revealed that the defendants allegedly smuggled cartons of counterfeit cigarettes worth $40 million.

"This was a one-stop-shopping criminal organization that had the will and the means to smuggle virtually every form of contraband imaginable,” said John P. Clark, Deputy Assistant Secretary for ICE. “For those reasons alone, the organization posed a serious homeland security threat that we are happy to close down today. This case demonstrates what can be achieved when law enforcement works together to combat such threats."

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Inside ICE is an e-newsletter produced by the ICE Office of Public Affairs to inform the public about the mission, operations and activities of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Please send comments and contributions to Russ Bergeron, Editor.

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Russ Bergeron, Editor
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