Canadian man sentenced after smuggling person across U.S. border from Whatcom County
A Calgary, Alberta, man has been sentenced after he helped smuggled a person across the U.S./Canada border for profit from Whatcom County in 2017.
The Canada Border Services Agency on Tuesday, Aug. 3, announced that following a investigation into human smuggling, Isamail Nababteh, 47, received a 15-month conditional sentence on July 9 in New Westminster (B.C.) Supreme Court. The sentence included three months of house arrest, according to a news release.
“The CBSA is committed to combating human smuggling, protecting vulnerable persons, and maintaining our border integrity,” border service Intelligence and Enforcement Operations Division Director John Linde said in the release. “The agency works closely with its partners, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, to identify, investigate and prosecute those engaging in immigration fraud.”
On July 13, 2017, Nababteh facilitated, for profit, smuggling a foreign national across the border into Canada at a non-designated Port of Entry to avoid Canada Border Services Agency screening and reporting requirements.
The border service could not confirm the exact location the smuggling occurred, but spokesperson Luke Reimer told The Bellingham Herald in an email that the incident took place in Surrey, B.C., between the ports of entry, meaning it likely originated from western Whatcom County near Blaine.
The conviction was Nababteh’s second for human smuggling, according to the release, and he was on bail from a previous human smuggling incident in 2016 at the time of the 2017 incident. Nabebteh was later convicted of smuggling three people into Canada in the 2016 incident and sentenced to just under six months in prison.
