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CNN Live Today

FBI Busts Smuggling Ring in Los Angeles

Aired May 03, 2001 - 14:32   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LOU WATERS, CNN ANCHOR: A major FBI bust in Los Angeles today. Agents say it was a smuggling ring that trafficked in human misery, illegally sneaking hundreds of people in to the U.S. from Ukraine, for a hefty fee, and a life of involuntary servitude. CNN's Charles Feldman follows this story in L.A.

Charles, what's the latest?

CHARLES FELDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Lou, there were arrests early morning here in the Los Angeles area. The FBI taking into custody some 11 individuals, most of them Ukrainian nationals. The FBI saying they were part of a highly complex, highly-organized smuggling ring, smuggling Ukrainian individuals into the United States through Mexico.

Many of them having to work in, what the FBI calls involuntary servitude, many woman as prostitutes, to pay off the fee -- some $7,000, to get them from Ukraine into the United States illegally. And at a FBI press conference here in Los Angeles, the FBI says that while several hundred alleged illegal immigrants were apprehended or questioned, it may just be the tip of the iceberg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICK PATTERSON, FBI: We know that a little over 200 were interdicted by border patrol and INS and in our conservative estimate, that was probably about ten percent of the total operation. There were a lot of people running through this operation; it was very, very active.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FELDMAN: Again, the way it allegedly worked was people in Ukraine using travel agencies there, would pay up to $7,000 to go to Mexico. They got visitors visas and other documentation in Mexico.

Then the FBI says the anty was raised; they were told they needed to come up with more money, and in return, they had to pledge to do work, some as prostitutes, around the United States in order to pay off the money.

The FBI says this is an ongoing investigation. There may also be some arrests in the not too distant future overseas, connected to this alleged smuggling ring -- Lou. WATERS: Charles Feldman keeping watch in Los Angeles today.

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