On Thursday, the United States announced a $ 2 million reward for information regarding Pakistani national and human smuggler Abid Ali Khan – one million USD for information leading to his arrest and another million USD for information concerning his financial disruption. As a spokesperson for the US State Department stated, Ali Khan is accused of operating a smuggling network from Pakistan that facilitates travel by undocumented individuals from the middle east and southwest Asia into the United States in exchange for payment.
In addition to planning and coordinating international travel from Pakistan through multiple countries, Ali Khan allegedly offered or provided false documents to help foreign nationals travel. In light of the recent arrest and conviction of Pakistani national and human trafficker Abid Ali Khan, the Department of State announces two rewards. ‘A reward of up to $1 million is offered for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Ali Khan, while a second $1 million reward is offered for information that disrupts Ali Khan’s human smuggling business,’ the spokesperson said in a statement.
The report stated that organizations like Ali Khan’s are exploiting vulnerable populations, posing a high risk of injury, and gravely endangering the people they are smuggling. Smuggled immigrants often travel perilously through South and Central America, enduring many days of walking with no food or water, and often falling victim to robbery and abuse throughout their journey.
Earlier this month, the US Department of Justice unsealed a federal indictment charging Ali Khan with having conspired to encourage and induce an alien to enter the country unlawfully, assisting in that act, and bringing an alien to the country illegally. According to Executive Order 13581 ‘Blocking Property of Transnational Criminal Organizations,’ the Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions against Ali Khan and the Ali Khan Transnational Criminal Organization on the same date based on the same criminal conduct.
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According to the statement, these rewards are offered by the Department of State’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP). Over 75 transnational criminals and major narcotics traffickers have been brought to justice under the TOCRP and the Narcotics Rewards Program (NRP) since 1986, and the State Department has paid more than $135 million in rewards to date. The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of the State Department manages the TOCRP in close coordination with the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and other US government agencies.
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