A California man was arrested Tuesday in Lacey and charged by criminal complaint with running a human smuggling scheme into Washington state and over the northern border with Canada, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown announced Thursday.
According to the criminal complaint, 48-year-old Rajinder Pal Singh, also known as Jaspal Gill, and his co-conspirators used Uber to transport people who had illegally crossed the border into the Seattle area.
Records show how Uber trips that began near the Canadian border in the early hours of the morning would be split between two rides. For example, one trip would go from the border to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, and then minutes later a second trip would go from a nearby airport hotel to an address in Lacey owned by Singh’s wife.
According to documents, the Lacey house served as a way station for those entering the U.S. illegally.
In some cases, Singh arranged for rental cars to drive those who illegally entered the country to destinations in the Midwest. More recently, Singh had purchased airline tickets for his customers to be flown to their destinations.
The smuggling scheme had been underway since at least 2018 but slowed during the pandemic when Canada was not admitting noncitizens into the country.
In total, the investigation estimates that between July 2018 and April 2022, the 17 Uber accounts connected to the scheme ran up more than $75,000 in charges.
All 17 accounts were loaded onto prepaid phones in an effort to further hide who was behind them.
According to the criminal complaint, Singh charged up to $11,500 per person for his part in the smuggling services. Singh was also captured on surveillance video buying large numbers of Uber gift cards in northern California.
Some of those gift cards were used in connection with Uber trips that started near the Canadian border.
“We are grateful for the effort and dedication of Homeland Security investigators who handled this case,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement. “Human trafficking is a global issue and Uber is thankful we could do our part to support the law enforcement investigation and provide information that helped lead to an arrest and potentially saved the lives of countless victims.”
Conspiracy to transport and harbor illegal aliens is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
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