18 nabbed in human-smuggling scheme

Federal and state authorities in California arrested 18 persons during a series of overnight raids last week that targeted a sophisticated human-smuggling operation authorities said brought hundreds of South Korean women into the United States to work as prostitutes. A criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles late Friday charged 23 persons with conspiracy. Five were listed as fugitives. Those arrested, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) spokesman Dean Boyd, were charged with harboring illegal aliens for an immoral purpose, harboring and transporting illegal aliens and violating the Travel Act, a federal statute that prohibits moving people across state lines for illegal sexual purposes, such as prostitution...