Indian-origin man used Uber to smuggle 800+ Indians into the United States

Rajinder Pal Singh admitted to taking in more than $500,000 as a key member of the smuggling ring, may face deportation after the prison term

Rajinder Pal Singh, also known as Jaspal Gill, pleaded guilty to smuggling more than 800 Indian citizens across the border from Canada to the United States using the Uber app.

According to the US Attorney's Office, Singh has been sentenced to a minimum of three years in prison for 'Conspiracy to Transport and Harbor Certain Aliens for Profit and Conspiracy to Commit Money Laundering' on Tuesday. Gill had pleaded guilty to the charges in February 2023.

"Singh’s participation in this conspiracy preyed upon the Indian Nationals’ hopes for a better life in the United States while saddling those smuggled with a crushing debt of as much as $70,000,” said the Acting US Attorney Tessa M Gorman in the statement released after the sentencing.

 

The smuggling racket

According to court records, Singh and his accomplices have been utilising the Uber ride-sharing app to transport individuals as early as July 2018. These records added details of the trips, stating that the rides were divided into segments, with one Uber trip taking passengers from the border to Sea-Tac airport, followed by another Uber trip minutes later from an airport hotel near the border to an address in Lacey, Washington, owned by Singh's spouse. Over the course of mid-2018 to May 2022, Singh arranged more than 600 trips to transport Indian nationals.

Singh also collaborated with other accomplices who would rent one-way vehicles to transport these individuals to their final destinations outside Washington State.

Singh and his associates arranged for smuggling fees to be sent from India to New York via Hawala, a system of transferring funds internationally through brokers.

Once the smuggling fees were received in cash, they were converted into checks, which was then mailed to a co-conspirator based in Kentucky. The funds were subsequently funneled through multiple financial accounts to obscure their illicit nature, constituting money laundering, as Singh admitted in his plea agreement.

The investigation estimates that between July 2018 and April 2022, the 17 Uber accounts associated with this smuggling ring accumulated more than $80,000 in charges. The operations had slowed down during the pandemic but resumed after Canada lifted entry restrictions for non-citizens.

Additional evidence uncovered

Homeland Security Investigations with support from US Customs and Border Protection, led the investigation, while Uber provided assistance shortly before Singh's arrest.

During the search of one of Singh's homes in Elk Grove, California, investigators discovered around $45,000 in cash and counterfeit identity documents. They also found falsified documents that were submitted to immigration judges in Washington during bond hearings for non-citizens who were arrested by immigration authorities

The plea and potential deportation

The terms of the plea agreement that Singh agreed to include forfeiting the cash and personal property seized during the searches, as well as paying a 'money judgement' of $500,000,

Singh will also serve 45 months in prison and since he is not legally present in the US, Singh will likely face deportation after serving his prison term.