Foreign national sentenced to 3 years for smuggling Africans into the US

WASHINGTON — An Eritrean national, who is also a citizen of the United Kingdom, was sentenced Tuesday to three years in prison for smuggling up to 99 undocumented migrants from Eritrea and Ethiopia into the United States. This case was investigated by the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. The Human Smuggling and Trafficking Center and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s National Targeting Center, as well as the Moroccan Ministry of Justice provided assistance.

Habtom Merhay, 47, of the United Kingdom, pleaded guilty to human smuggling charges Sept. 24. He was originally arrested by Moroccan authorities in August 2013 and extradited to the United States April 25.  He has been in custody since his arrest.

In his plea agreement, Merhay admitted that from May 2009 to September 2010, he operated a human smuggling scheme from his residence in Dubai. In exchange for fees of up to $14,000, he smuggled undocumented African migrants into the United States by purchasing airline tickets for their travel to South and Central America, and then coordinating with a global network of smugglers to facilitate the migrants’ travel into the United States.

The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks or present grave humanitarian concerns. ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources. The strike force coordinates with and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.