2 leaders of a suspicious smuggling group 20,000 immigrants are arrested in Los Angeles

Los Angeles – Federal authorities in Los Angeles arrested two alleged leaders of a suspicious criminal organization of smuggling to 20,000 people from Guatemala to the United States and accusing each person until $ 18,000 to take them to the country.

Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, known as “Turko”, and his lieutenant, Cristóbal Mejia-Chaj, were arrested on Friday. Each one declared innocent of multiple positions related to smuggling migrants On the other side of the border for five years, said the office of the United States prosecutor.

A federal judge ordered men, who are in the country illegally, imprisoned without bail until their trial in April.

The accusation appoints Renoj-Matul as head of one of the largest human smuggling organizations in the United States, a vast ring that operates for at least a dozen years that mainly transported people to the United States from Guatemala.

The criminal network was responsible for the death of seven immigrants without legal status, including a 4 -year -old boy, who died in a November 2023 vehicle accident in Oklahoma, prosecutors said.

A driver who has been in custody in Oklahoma since that accident, Jose Paxtor-Oxlaj, was also accused in the accusation of California, according to judicial documents. Another man, Helmer Bishop-Hernández, a lieutenant in the organization and supervisor of a team of drivers, also faces charges. It is believed to be in Guatemala, authorities said.

The lawyers of the four men could not be located on Monday to comment.

Renoj-Matual was assisted by associates in Guatemala who requested people who paid between $ 15,000 and $ 18,000 to be smuggled to the United States through Mexico, prosecutors said.

For an additional rate, migrants were transported and transferred to several destinations in the United States, including Los Angeles and Phoenix. According to prosecutors, some of the migrants who could not pay the rates were rehénes in a house of setting at home near the center of Los Angeles.

“These smuggling organizations do not take into account human life and their behavior kills,” said the interim prosecutor of the United States, Joseph T. McNally, in a statement. “The accusation and arrests here have dismantled one of the largest and most dangerous smuggling organizations in the country.”

If it is convicted of all charges, the defendants could face a maximum legal sentence of death or life imprisonment.