Volume 6
July-Aug 2016 Edition
one weapon. The case is being handled by the Colombian Attorney General’s Office.
Operation Mesoamerica-(Image: ICE Charles Reed)
The following ICE Attaché offices participated in
the multinational investigation: Guatemala, Panama, Honduras, Mexico, Brazil, and El Salvador.
HSI Washington, D.C., HSI New York and U.S.
Customs and Border Protection (USCBP) also assisted with the investigation.
The following agencies conducted the arrests and
are handling the prosecution of the cases: the
Guatemalan National Police, the Guatemalan Attorney General’s Office, the Salvadoran National
Police, the Salvadoran Attorney General’s Office,
the Panamanian National Police, the Panamanian
Attorney General’s Office, the Costa Rican National Police, the Costa Rican Attorney General’s
Office, the Honduran National Police and the Honduran Attorney General’s Office.
In a separate human smuggling case not linked
to Operation Mesoamerica, the ICE Attaché Colombia supported the Colombian National Police
in a human smuggling investigation that yielded 14
arrests in five Colombian cities and the execution
of seven search warrants. Evidence uncovered
during the investigation revealed that the TCO in
Colombia was responsible for smuggling individuals primarily from Bangladesh through Colombia
and Venezuela into the United States. During the
operation, officials seized the equivalent of $6,000
USD in Colombian and Venezuelan currency and
Operation Mesoamerica (Image: ICE Michael Johnson)
Operation Mesoamerica comes under ICE HSI’s
Operation Citadel, a multinational effort that focuses on increasing partner nation capacity to identify,
disrupt, and dismantle transnational criminal organizations (TCOs), and other support networks involved in human smuggling throughout South and
Central America, and Mexico. The scope of the operation includes cross-border enforcement actions
with partner nations, document and media collection at ports of entries and along illicit smuggling
routes, and traditional training events.
The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS)
Joint Task Force for Investigations (JTF-I) provided
investigative and analytical support for Operation
Citadel. JTF-I is one of three new inter-component
task forces established as part of DHS Secretary
Jeh Johnson’s unity of effort initiative to better integrate DHS components’ capabilities, authorities
and expertise.
Through its International Operations, HSI has 65
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