The U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) on Thursday blacklisted a Mexican human-smuggling ring, imposing sanctions against four individuals and 16 companies it says helped illegally migrate to the United States.
The Cancun-based Bhardwaj Human Smuggling Organization has illicitly transported thousands of people from Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia into the United States, using an array of transportation methods, according to the office, which also accused the group of involvement in drug trafficking, bribery, and money laundering.
According to the announcement, the group uses yachts and marinas to move migrants into Mexico, houses them in hostels and hotels in Cancun, and pushes them along the Tapachula–Cancun–Mexicali corridor, working with the previously designated Hernandez Salas organization and drawing operational support from employees of the Sinaloa cartel.
The organization’s leader, Vikrant Bhardwaj, is a dual Indian-Mexican national and CEO of several companies in Mexico, India, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) who launders his illicit earnings through marinas and various businesses he runs, OFAC said.
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