Within a month of a multi-agency task force being launched to target border crime, and an FBI Summer Heat Initiative, another major border crime bust was made in Omaha, Neb.
The bust involves alleged human trafficking, sex trafficking, drug trafficking, labor exploitation, money laundering, immigration fraud and other crimes involving illegal border crossers from India.
It comes after the greatest number of Indian nationals were reported illegally entering the U.S. in recorded history during the Biden administration, The Center Square first reported.
Omaha has been a focus of labor exploitation and border crime by a new Homeland Security Task Force. The task force has already arrested high profile targets, including violent Tren de Aragua and MS-13 terrorist members, The Center Square reported.
This week, five Indian individuals were charged with allegedly engaging in labor trafficking, sex trafficking, and harboring illegal foreign nationals at several hotels throughout the Omaha metro area and in central Nebraska.
The five charged and arrested were Kentakumar Chaudhari, of Elkhorn; Rashmi Ajit Samani of Elkhorn; Amit Prahladbhai Chaudhari of Omaha; Amit Babubhai Chaudhari of Omaha and Maheshkumar Chaudhari of Norfolk, Neb., according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Search warrants were executed at 14 business premises and two residential locations, including five hotels and “Brow and Lash” salons located in Omaha and Bellevue.
“During the operation, law enforcement officers rescued 10 minors from an alleged labor trafficking conspiracy that involved putting children under the age of twelve years old to work at the hotels for long hours with little to no pay,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Nebraska said.
Authorities also rescued 17 adults from alleged “exploitative” working conditions.
The charges include allegations of sex trafficking of adults and minors as well as drug trafficking. Overdoses were also “a common problem, and at least one hotel had to keep Narcan at the front desk as a result,” according to the charges. “Drug use was open and notorious in the parking lots according to eyewitnesses and to some online guest reviews.”
The charges also allege immigration fraud, with one defendant charged with “instigating a criminal scheme designed to obtain U visas under fraudulent circumstances.” U visas relate to “nonimmigrant status” and are designated for certain crime victims who claim to have suffered mental or physical abuse and helped law enforcement with an investigation to prosecute criminal activity.
One affidavit alleges one hotel owner hired a hotel worker to stage a fictitious robbery of one of the Brow and Lash salons in order to obtain a U visa for one of the other defendants.
The complaint also alleges that many of the hotel employees illegally entered the U.S. in Arizona and arrangements were made for them to go to the Nebraska hotels prior to their illegal entry. After Indian nationals illegally entered the U.S., they were allegedly transported from Nebraska to Washington state to fraudulently obtain driver’s licenses.
The complaint also alleged money laundering; authorities seized more than $565,000 in cash as well as an “undetermined amount illicit drugs.”
Investigators are also responding to complaints made to human trafficking hotlines about child workers and sex trafficking at the hotels.
The FBI is requesting anyone with information about potential crimes occurring at the locations to contact its Omaha field office.
“There is no evil greater than the evil that seeks to trap, oppress, and exploit human beings for profit or pleasure,” U.S. Attorney Lesley Woods said. “Where that evil exists, Nebraska law enforcement working together at the federal, state, and local levels, as occurred in this case, will seek it, find it, root it out, and ensure every rescued victim has an opportunity to obtain justice and freedom from their captors.”
The Sarpy County Sheriff’s Office, Omaha Police Department, Nebraska State Patrol, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Branch, U.S. Marshals Service, Nebraska Attorney General’s Office and others are involved in the ongoing investigation.
Crime related to illegal border crossings continues after the greatest number of Indian nationals illegally entered the U.S. under the Biden administration. From fiscal 2021 through 2024, nearly 267,000 Indian nationals were reported illegally entering the U.S., The Center Square first reported. This was the greatest number reported in U.S. history under any administration.
The data excludes those who evaded capture, referred to as got aways, and those who were released into the country through multiple parole programs created by the Biden administration.
