Man arrested for smuggling Iranians..more border fun.

So... this guy has connections with the Iranian government authorities, and travels back and forth between Arizona and Tehran?




Mesa man accused of smuggling Iranians

Robert Anglen
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 1, 2005 12:00 AM

Federal authorities are investigating a Mesa tailor charged with trying to smuggle Iranians across the Mexican border into Arizona.

Zeayadali Malhamdary, 39, an Iranian with permanent resident status in the United States, is accused of trying to buy phony Mexican visas so that three Iranians could fly into Mexico before being smuggled across the border. He was indicted Tuesday.

The case is unusual because it provides insight into some of the methods that foreigners use to gain illegal entry into the United States.
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The U.S. Border Patrol does not provide statistical breakdowns of undocumented immigrants it apprehends from countries other than Mexico. But Mexicans make up the vast majority, 92 percent in fiscal 2003, according to the 2003 Yearbook of Immigration Statistics published by the Department of Homeland Security.

"This is indicative of the FBI's ongoing effort to identify vulnerabilities to our nation's security, which includes the use of false documents to unlawfully enter our country," Jana D. Monroe, special agent in charge of the Phoenix FBI, said in a statement Tuesday.

Malhamdary, owner of Palez Tailoring on Baseline Road, bragged to an undercover FBI agent that he had smuggled as many as 60 Iranians into the United States using fake Mexican visas, according to a criminal complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Arizona.

After his arrest, Malhamdary said that "he wanted the visas so he could bring people from Iran to Mexico so that they could come to the United States and pursue refugee status," the complaint states.

According to the complaint, Malhamdary asked a source to obtain Mexican visas that could be placed into Iranian passports. The source contacted federal authorities and reported that Malhamdary told him that he had recently smuggled a group of 20 Iranians into the United States near Sonoita.

An undercover FBI agent met Malhamdary and arranged to provide him with the visas, the complaint states. Federal authorities said that Malhamdary flew to Tehran in March and returned with passports of Iranians wishing to come to the United States.

During meetings and in recorded phone calls with the undercover agent from the FBI, Malhamdary said there were eight more Iranians interested in being smuggled into the United States using the fake visas, the complaint states.

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