Navy Reservist Charged In Human Smuggling Case

April 14, 2006

By Associated Press

SEATTLE - A Navy reservist faces a maximum 10 years in prison if convicted of smuggling Indian and Pakistani nationals into the country from British Columbia.

Lawrence Carter, 23, of Oak Harbor, pleaded not guilty Thursday in U.S. District Court here to one count of smuggling and transporting illegal immigrants.

He's one of 14 men from Washington and Canada indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of bringing 54 people, who had paid as much as $35,000 apiece, into this country illegally. Investigators believe Carter worked as a driver in the smuggling ring.

Carter's attorney, Pete Mazzone, said Carter was honorably discharged from the Navy in July 2005. He's currently in the Navy Reserves but not on active duty, said a spokeswoman at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station.

Investigators started tracking the Vancouver, British Columbia-based operation in January 2005 after getting a tip that three men had bought maps of the border and had asked about border patrol and Canadian police enforcement activity in the area.

Days later, border patrol agents stopped a minivan carrying 10 illegal aliens near the Oroville port of entry. The van was registered to a man investigators believe was the ringleader of the operation, Kavel Multani. Multani, a dual Canadian and Indian citizen living in Vancouver, has been charged with nine counts of smuggling and transporting illegal immigrants.

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