Ho Chi Minh City [Vietnam], February 13: The driver who took 10 Vietnamese people from Canada to the US in August 2024 was sentenced to 3 years in prison and 1 year of supervision by a US court.
The Detroit Free Press reported on February 13 that a court in Detroit (Michigan, USA) has just sentenced a Canadian truck driver to 3 years in prison for smuggling 10 Vietnamese immigrants from Canada into the US.
Defendant Husain Al Kawwaz (35 years old) was also sentenced to one year of post-sentence supervision, but does not need to report regularly.
The driver had previously pleaded guilty to one count of smuggling foreigners into the country for profit. The minimum sentence for this offence is 36 months in prison.
The defendant's attorney, Remond Atie, expressed gratitude to the federal prosecutor and the court in the United States for considering all factors related to the case.
The incident occurred on August 7, 2024, when Husain, a Canadian of Iraqi descent, entered the United States at the Fort Street Freight Facility in Detroit at approximately 11:30 p.m. The suspect drove a tractor-trailer into a U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspection area and appeared to be the only occupant of the vehicle.
Also in this parking lot, at around 0:30 on August 8, 2024, security officers discovered 10 people hiding, later identified as Vietnamese citizens without visas to enter the US. Authorities later confirmed that these 10 people had previously gotten off the truck of driver Husain, so they arrested this driver.
The driver said he had received an offer from an unidentified person at a truck stop in Windsor, Canada, to take them to the United States for $5,000.
According to prosecutors, Husain also brought others into the US from April to August 2024, about 3-4 times per month and from 25-99 people/trip, with a fee of 500 USD/person.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
