Four Charged in Alien Smuggling, Extortion Plot

Four men charged with harboring illegal aliens and suspected of an extortion attempt were arraigned in U.S. District Court Thursday, according to a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.

The four men, also alleged to be illegal aliens, were identified by the Border Patrol as Martin Carrera Lopez, 25, of Puebla, Mexico; Francisco Martinez Barraza, 25, of Durango, Mexico; Eduardo Barron Gomez, 25, of Mexico City, and Juan Manuel Ramirez Gonzalez, 19, of Guadalajara.

According to the Border Patrol, the four men smuggled four other illegal aliens across the border Wednesday night, then called the brother of one of the smuggled men and told him to pay $2,000 or his brother would be killed. The brother, who lives north of Coalinga, Calif., called the police.

The smugglers said the money should be wired to the Western Union office in Los Angeles and they gave a phone number where they could be contacted, according to the Border Patrol.

The Border Patrol used the phone number to locate the men, which led to their arrest at 2 a.m. Thursday, agents said.