Man Faces 22 Charges After Investigation Found Illegal Entry of Congolese Nationals: CBSA

A Montreal man is facing 22 criminal charges laid by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) following an investigation that the CBSA said uncovered evidence of the man’s involvement in helping foreign nationals to illegally enter the country.

Hugues Mbala Diata appeared at the Montreal courthouse on Oct. 1. A news release issued by the CBSA that day said the accused faced charges under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA) related to the illegal entry of several nationals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo into Canada.

The federal law enforcement agency said an investigation launched in 2023 “uncovered evidence” of the accused’s “improper involvement in refugee claimant cases.”

The involvement the agency alleged involved arranging the travel of several Congolese nationals to Canada, including obtaining false documents and inducing them to misrepresent themselves to Canadian authorities upon arrival.

Mbala Diata’s charges, which will have to be proven in court, consist of six counts of counselling misrepresentation, one count of misrepresentation, one count of possession of false documents, three counts of using false documents, three counts of forgery, seven counts of aiding in the use of false documents, and one count of acting as an immigration consultant without being an authorized representative.

The CBSA news release said that under Canadian law, “anyone who induces, assists, or encourages someone to enter the country knowing—or willfully ignoring—that such entry is contrary to the law is committing a criminal offense.”

“Our criminal investigations team, along with our border services officers across the country, is actively working to uncover immigration fraud schemes, gather evidence and prosecute offenders,” Eric Lapierre, regional director general of CBSA’s Quebec region, said in the Oct. 1 news release.

Other Arrests

The CBSA has also recently arrested several other individuals allegedly linked to human smuggling.

In early August, the agency said three people—Ogulcan Mersin, 25; Dogan Alakus, 31; and Firat Yuksek, 31—had been arrested and charged with smuggling-related offences after a truck from the United States was intercepted in southern Quebec on Aug. 3. The 16-foot truck was carrying 44 foreign nationals crammed inside, who police said were mostly Haitan and included young children and a pregnant woman.

The three alleged smugglers faced two charges—one of inciting, aiding, or abetting, or attempting to induce, aid, or abet, a person to commit an offence under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (IRPA); and another of assisting people to enter Canada outside of a designated customs office under the Customs Act.

A CBSA spokesperson told The Epoch Times at the time that the agency could not comment further on the case as the matter was before the courts.

Yuksek was subsequently released on bail on Sept. 10 on conditions that included not having a passport and not being within 25 kilometres of the Canada-U.S. border. Quebec court Judge Alexandre Tardif ruled at the time that Mersin and Alakus will remain detained until the end of their trial.

Their case will return to court on Nov. 3.

A fourth suspect, Tolga Yilmaz, 34, was arrested at Montreal Trudeau International Airport on Aug. 8 after allegedly trying to flee. Yilmaz is facing the same two charges, under the IRPA and the Customs Act, as those faced by the three individuals earlier arrested in connection with the case.

According to an Aug. 12 statement issued by the CBSA, “The RCMP and CBSA are currently investigating other individuals suspected of being linked to numerous other illegal crossings in Quebec, contrary to IRPA.”

The statement said the RCMP arrested two other individuals in the Valleyfield region in Quebec on Aug. 10. The two—Can Volkan, 25, and Kurey Recep, 27—were accused of attempting to smuggle 11 foreign nationals into Canada and were charged under the IRPA and the Customs Act. The CBSA said investigations were underway to establish links between Volkan and Recep and other recent human smuggling incidents.

Chandra Philip and The Canadian Press contributed to this report.