Arizona cops bust travel agent smuggling ring

PHOENIX (Reuters) - A smuggling ring that Arizona police say flew thousands of illegal immigrants across the United States from the Phoenix area has been broken up with 16 people indicted, authorities said on Thursday.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said the ring involved six travel agencies that booked $2 million in flights and other forms of travel to send more than 6,800 illegal immigrants from Arizona and neighboring Nevada to destinations nationwide.

The 16 defendants include 14 people who were owners, manager or employees of the travel agencies. They face a range of charges including human smuggling, fraudulent schemes and money laundering under state laws.

"This case underscores our increased commitment to investigate and prosecute human smuggling in Arizona," Goddard said.

Each year U.S. border police arrest more than one million undocumented immigrants crossing illegally from Mexico, many of whom trek north on foot or in trucks over the deserts of southern Arizona. There are an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States.

Police say human traffickers haul an unknown number of the immigrants to the state capital, Phoenix. Many then make travel bookings for them and send them by road and air to join families in towns and cities across the United States

The Arizona Department of Public Safety said the agencies targeted in the case booked one-way flights from airports in Las Vegas and Phoenix to more than two dozen cities across the United States.

Authorities said nearly $2 million in bookings were made by the ring.

Two other people also indicted in the case are alleged to have operated a drop house in Phoenix where illegal immigrants stayed before being driven to Las Vegas to catch flights.

Police said smugglers' favored Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport over Phoenix' Sky Harbor International Airport, where scrutiny of travel documents was perceived as being tighter.