Norfolk Southern Engine 9863

[OwlCaboose2853]

Man held in case of border smuggling
He's indicted on charges of helping 18 illegal immigrants cross into the U.S.

By David Shepardson / The Detroit News


Dangerous crossing

Some immigrants have attempted to simply walk through the train tunnel -- though they trigger sensors that alert the Border Patrol. At least one person has been killed in the past decade when hit by a train attempting to cross.


DETROIT -- Federal agents have arrested another person they say was attempting to smuggle illegal immigrants through a train tunnel linking Canada and Michigan.

A federal grand jury in Detroit last week indicted Wissam Abudayyeh, a Palestinian and a legal resident of Canada, on charges he helped 17 Chinese and an Albanian cross into the United States.

Abudayyeh, who is in his early 20s, was to be paid $400 per person, said Angus Lowe, a U.S. Immigration, Customs and Enforcement Office agent.

According to the U.S. government, the illegal immigrants boarded Norfolk Southern Engine 9863 in Windsor about 4:25 a.m. Jan. 5; U.S. agents discovered them during an inspection after the train reached Detroit.

Abudayyeh's attorney, Karen Davis Roberts, declined to discuss the case in detail.

"He's innocent until proven guilty and deserves every right afforded under the Constitution," Roberts said.

The 18 illegal immigrants are being held as material witnesses.

Abudayyeh is being held without bond, pending trial.

"Those who smuggle aliens often do so with little regard to the health and safety of their human cargo," said Brian Moskowitz, special agent in charge of the Detroit Immigration, Customs and Enforcement Office.

"To those who seek to illegally enter the United States using the services of a smuggler be warned: You do so at great risk to both your freedom and your health."

Robert Cares, chief of the counterterrorism unit for the U.S. attorney's office in Detroit, said there's no connection to terrorism in this case.

Cares said the number of smuggling cases is up because more federal agents are assigned to watch the Canadian border in Michigan as part of U.S. homeland security efforts.

Officials say the most common local smuggling efforts are late-night crossings by small boats, especially near Grosse Ile on the Detroit River and Harsens Island at the mouth of the St. Clair River.

But the train tunnels between Michigan and Ontario are also an attractive conduit.

Kole Vushaj, 35, of Macomb Township was sentenced in November to nine years in prison after admitting he smuggled illegal immigrants into the United States via the train tunnels in Detroit and Port Huron.

Vushaj admitted to smuggling 13 people from China, Albania, Belgium and Yugoslavia through Port Huron on Jan. 27, 2004.

Vushaj met the illegal immigrants at the train yard in Port Huron. They arrived on a train four tracks from his vehicle and had to cross active train tracks and climb under train cars.

In a separate incident in March, a Border Patrol agent discovered Vushaj hiding in a train car at the Detroit tunnel. No illegal immigrants were found.

But the next day, the same freight train reached Holland in west Michigan. Following a 911 call by a passer-by who heard people screaming inside a train car, police found two Albanians on the train.


http://www.detnews.com/2005/metro/0501/18/C01-62307.htm