Four men entered guilty pleas Monday in U.S. District Court on St. Thomas to charges that they were involved in a scheme to smuggle Arab nationals into the United States.
The men — Hatem H. Mustafa, Ali Ahmad Yassin Abu-Soud, Amjad Muyheddin and Talal M. Mustafa — entered the guilty pleas prior to the start of jury selection for their trial Monday morning.
According to the U.S. Attorney James Hurd Jr., Hatem Mustafa and Abu-Soud pleaded guilty to smuggling an alien into the U.S. for "private gain or commercial advantage." Abu-Soud admitted that he arranged the transportation of an illegal alien for a fee from St. Maarten to St. Thomas in January 1999 on a small rental aircraft, according to Hurd.
Hatem Mustafa admitted to meeting the illegal alien and another smuggler on St. Maarten and to helping make the financial arrangements for the smuggling, Hurd said.
Muyheddin and Talal Mustafa, meanwhile, each pleaded guilty to transporting an illegal alien in the U.S. Both men admitted that on Feb. 24, 1999, they transported an illegal alien from St. Thomas to San Juan on a Cape Air flight, Hurd said.
Additionally, Hurd said Talal Mustafa admitted that in San Juan on Feb. 25, 1999, he picked up an airline ticket in his name and then gave it, along with his photo identification card, to an illegal alien planning to travel to Florida. The alien was arrested at the San Juan airport prior to the flight.
In connection with the case, the owner of the territory's two Plaza Extra supermarkets, Fathi Yusef, pleaded guilty last week to three charges of employing illegal aliens that stemmed from a raid on his stores on St. Thomas and St. Croix. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents raided the supermarkets last August and arrested Yusef and four other persons, including the defendants who pleaded guilty Monday.
The raids reportedly stemmed from the February 1999 arrest in San Juan of the Arab national trying to travel to Florida. The third establishment raided in August was a convenience market in Lindbergh Bay operated by Abu-Soud, who now runs the Friendly Grocery and Gas Station on Crown Mountain Road on St. Thomas.
An INS news release issued last August said that the arrests were related to a scheme whereby illegal aliens smuggled into the territory were "employed in local businesses owned and/or operated by Arab nationals who for an additional fee allegedly would find them spouses to become legal residents."
Hatem Mustafa and Abu-Soud face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a three-year probation period after their release. Muyheddin and Talal Mustafa face a maximum penalty of five years in prison, a $250,000 fine and a three-year probation period.
Hurd said the four defendants will be sentenced according to federal guidelines at a hearing yet to be scheduled.
