State Dept. Posts $1Mln Reward for Pakistani Smuggler Who Helps Migrants Enter US

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US announced rewards totalling $2 million in a bid to close down a network operated by human smuggler Abid Ali Khan that facilitates travel for undocumented migrants seeking to reach the United States from the Middle East and southwest Asia, State Department spokesman Ned Price said on Thursday.

The first of two rewards, worth up to $1 million, is for information leading to Khan’s arrest and conviction while a second $1 million is offered for information leading to the financial disruption of Khan’s human smuggling network, Price said in a press release.

"Smuggling organizations like Ali Khan’s take advantage of vulnerable populations, pose high risk, and gravely endanger the individuals being smuggled. Persons smuggled to the United States are often subject to perilous travel through South and Central America, which can involve many days of walking through difficult terrain with little food or water, with many falling victim to robbery and abuse during the journey," Price said.

In April 2021, the Justice Department unsealed an indictment of Ali Khan, charging the smuggler with conspiracy to help aliens illegally enter the US. The move coincided with the Treasury Department’s imposition of sanctions against the smuggler and his smuggling network, according to the release.

The rewards are offered under State Department’s Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program (TOCRP), which has paid rewards totalling $135 million and brought more than 75 transnational criminals to justice since the program began in 1986, the release said.