2 leaders of a group that is suspected of smuggling 20,000 immigrants are arrested in Los Angeles

Los Angeles (AP) – The federal authorities in Los Angeles arrested two alleged leaders of a criminal organization who were suspected of smuggling 20,000 people from Guatemala to the USA and accusing each person up to $ 18,000 in order to bring them into the country.

Eduardo Domingo Renoj-Matul, known as “Turko”, and his lieutenant Cristobal Mejia-Chaj were taken into custody on Friday. They have not guilty for several charges related to smuggling of migrants across the border over five years, said the US law firm.

A federal judge ordered the men who are illegal in the country themselves until their trial in April without bond.

The indictment names Renoj-Matul as head of one of the largest human smuggling organizations in the United States, a large ring that worked for at least a dozen years, which mainly transported people from Guatemala to the USA.

The criminal network was responsible for the death of seven immigrants without legal status, a 4-year child who was killed in Oklahoma in a vehicle accident in November 2023, according to the public prosecutor.

The incumbent lawyer of the United States, Joe McNally from the Central District of California, announces arrests of a transnational criminal organization, which on Monday, March 3, 2025, over five years in Los Angeles Monday, March 3, 2025, in Los Angeles to smuggle around 20,000 immigrants from Guatemala. You are looking for Helmer Obispo-Hernandez, which are depicted on the left. (Sarah Reinewirtz/The Orange County Register via AP)

A driver who has been in custody since this crash in Oklahoma, Jose Paxtor-Oxlaj, was also charged with the California charge, according to court documents. Another man, Helmer Obispo-Hernandez, a lieutenant in the organization and superior of a team of drivers, is also charged. He should be in Guatemala, officials said.

Lawyers for the four men could not be found for a comment on Monday.

Renoj-Matual was supported by employees in Guatemala who each paid between $ 15,000 and $ 18,000 in order to be smuggled into the USA by Mexico, said prosecutor.

The migrants were transported for an additional fee and drawn to various destinations in the USA, including Los Angeles and Phoenix. According to the prosecutors, some of the migrants who could not pay the fees were held hostage in a Stash house near the city center of Los Angeles.

“These smuggling organizations have no consideration of human life and their behavioral murder,” said the reigning lawyer of the United States, Joseph T. McNally. “The indictment and arrests here have broken down one of the largest and most dangerous smuggling organizations in the country.”

When convicted of all charges, the accused could be exposed to a statutory maximum sentence of death or lifelong detention.

Originally published: March 3, 2025 at 6:55 p.m. EST

2 leaders of a group that is suspected of smuggling 20,000 immigrants are arrested in Los Angeles

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