Washington, May 1 (IANS) A Pakistani national has pleaded guilty to leading an international human smuggling network that brought migrants into the United States using sham film production companies, the Justice Department said.

Abbas Ali Haider, 49, of Sialkot, admitted to running a years-long conspiracy that moved Pakistani nationals through Latin America to the US-Mexico border, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said Haider operated two fake companies — Diamond TV World Productions and Multimedia Advertising Ltd — to secure visas under the guise of legitimate business travel.

From September 2019 to September 2023, Haider obtained visas for individuals to travel to Ecuador, Cuba and Colombia. The migrants posed as employees working on film projects, while their actual destination was the United States, the Department of Justice said.

Authorities said the network then routed them to the southern US border, where they crossed illegally into California, Texas and Arizona. Haider charged each migrant as much as $40,000 for the journey, officials said.

Extradited to the United States from Mexico in July 2025, Haider pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bring aliens to the United States for private financial gain and bringing in illegal aliens for profit.

Haider is scheduled to be sentenced on July 30. He faces a minimum of three years in prison and a maximum of 10 years.

A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the US Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Assistant Attorney General A Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, US Attorney Timothy Courchaine for the District of Arizona, and Acting Special Agent in Charge, Kevin P Murphy of HSI San Diego, made the announcement.

Homeland Security Investigations Calexico led US investigative efforts, working in concert with HSI’s Brasilia, Quito, Tijuana, and Caribbean attaché offices and the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, DC. US Customs and Border Protection’s International Interdiction Task Force; US Border Patrol; the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force in Miami; and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Office of Enforcement and Removal Operations office in Detroit provided substantial assistance. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs worked with law enforcement partners in Mexico to secure the arrest and extradition of Haider.

–IANS

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