Feds say they busted Cuban migrant smuggling ring operating out of the Keys
Feds say they busted Cuban migrant smuggling ring operating out of the Keys
David Goodhue, Miami Herald 9 hrs ago
MIAMI -- Federal agents arrested three men Sunday in the Florida Keys as a boat was being lowered by one of them down a ramp at a local marina in an alleged scheme to smuggle migrants out of Cuba.
U.S. Border Patrol/TNS/TNS A boat that ferried Cubans to the Florida Keys
floats in Boot Key Harbor in the city of Marathon, Florida, on Jan. 12, 2021.
Agents with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations say the men ran the operation out of a house in Key Largo.
Shortly after the arrest at the Harry Harris Park marina in the Upper Keys area of Tavernier, agents executed a search warrant at a Homestead house where another member of the alleged smuggling ring, Yosniel Fuentes, was arrested, according to a complaint filed in federal court Monday.
Also at the Homestead house, located at Southwest 263rd Terrace, agents found a ledger containing a list of names and phone numbers of people in Cuba. The resident of the house, Alberto Garcia, told agents he planned to contact the people on the list "to see if they were interested in coming to the United States," the complaint states.
Along with Garcia and Fuentes, agents arrested Manuel Fonseca and Yudier Panaque. It was not immediately clear if attorneys were assigned to represent the men. They made their first appearance in front of a judge in Key West on Monday afternoon.
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