Guyanese charged with smuggling Indians to the US

A Guyanese national was charged in a nine-count indictment on Friday for smuggling one Indian national to the United States and trying to smuggle three others.

Arrested by federal authorities on November 17, Annita Devi Gerald aka Annita Rampersad, 52, was charged in a nine-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the southern district of Texas, the department of justice said on Friday.

While one Indian national has been detained and is awaiting his deportation, the whereabouts of the other three are not known, the department of justice said in a statement.

The names of the Indians have not been released. If convicted, Gerald faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison for conspiracy, and 10 years in prison for each of the four counts of encouraging and inducing aliens to come to the US for profit.

According to the indictment, from April 2009 to November 17, 2009, Gerald and others conspired to smuggle four Indian nationals into the US. Gerald and her co-conspirators fraudulently obtained Belizean visas for the Indians and escorted them from India to Belize, moving through various countries in Central and South America. Gerald allegedly provided lodging for all four Indian nationals in Belize while further smuggling arrangements were made.

In August 2009, Gerald allegedly arranged transportation for one of the Indian nationals to cross the border from Belize into Mexico, where he met with Gerald's co-conspirator, who escorted him through Mexico. In Monterrey, Mexico, Gerald's co-conspirator paid a Mexico-based smuggler to illegally transport the individual across the Mexico-US border to Houston.

After making these arrangements, Gerald's co-conspirator allegedly flew to Houston and received the Indian national at a motel approximately 10 days later. The smugglers, who delivered the Indian national to Gerald's co-conspirator in Houston, allegedly demanded and received a smuggling payment prior to releasing him.

The Indian smuggled to Houston is currently being administratively detained. The whereabouts of the other three Indian nationals allegedly harboured by Gerald in Belize is currently unknown, the department of justice said.