US officials say that a Colombian man who lived Quebec was extradited and arrested in connection with the case of a deceased Mexican woman while trying to cross an icy river after having entered illegally in the United States in 2023.
The American lawyer’s office for the Northern New York district accused Jhader Augusto Uibe-Tobar, 36, of three counts linked to smuggling in relation to the death of Ana Karen Vasquez-Flores.
The body of Vasquez-Flores, 33, was found in the large Chazy river near Champlain, NY, on December 14, 2023, two days after her husband alerted a border patrol agent that she was not emerged Woods on the American side of the border.
In a press release, American lawyer Carla Freedman said that the tragedy highlights the dangers of illegal migration and how smugglers put people in danger for lucrative ends.
“By vigorously continuing the human smuggling networks, we dissuade and reduce the number of dangerous crossings like the one who took the life of this young woman and her child to be born,” she said.
The Canada Border Services Agency says it is looking to open a treatment center for asylum seekers near the American border in Quebec as an emergency plan in the event of an “influx” of applicants. A RCMP officer checks the border between Quebec and New York State on Roxham Road in St. Bernard-de-Lacolle, Qué. Wednesday January 15, 2025.
The Canadian Press / Christinne Muschi
The American authorities allege that Uibe-Tobar announced its services on Tiktok under a pseudonym and charged the woman and her husband $ 2,500 to guide her by an electronic message while she was trying to cross the border alone on foot. They allege that Vasquez-Flores has been informed that it could cross the river.
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The documents filed by US officials from the Quebec Superior Court alleged that her husband, Miguel Mojarro-Magna, had contacted the Tiktok account and was informed that the trip to the United States could take up to three hours.
Uibe-tobar pleaded not guilty on Thursday to federal charges of extraterrestrial smuggling and conspiracy in order to commit an extraterrestrial smuggling and was detained while waiting for a trial. None of the allegations have been proven in justice, and its federal public defender refused to comment on the Associated Press.
The exchanges of messages provided in American court documents show that Uibe-Tobar would have sent an SMS to the husband of Vasquez-Flores on the evening of December 11, 2023, to say that his wife was crossing the river. “I am very nervous,” sent the husband in return.
Just after 7 pm, the husband received a saying answer: “Bro, hello, I think she got down or turned off her mobile phone.”
Message exchanges would have continued and the husband alerted the authorities of the disappearance of his wife the next day.
Uibe-Tobar was arrested at the end of December 2023 in St-Hyacinthe, qu. A judge of the Court Superior in Quebec ordered his commitment to extradition in May, according to the Federal Ministry of Justice, after which the case proceeded to a ministerial phase which forced the Minister of Justice to approve the surrender .
According to the American lawyer’s office, the accusations against uribe-tobar bear a minimum duration of three years and a maximum of life in life.
This Canadian press report was published for the first time on February 6, 2025.
– with files from the Associated Press
& Copy 2025 the Canadian press