Immigrant Smugglers For Zetas Sentenced To Prison

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — A San Antonio woman who led a cell that smuggled as many as 200 people into the U.S. for the Zetas cartel has been sentenced to just more than five years in prison while her brother was sentenced to four years.

The San Antonio Express-News reports 26-year-old April Gaitan and 29-year-old Armando Gaitan were sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges for their role in the ring that smuggled immigrants from Mexico and Central America through Nuevo Laredo and Villa Hidalgo, Mexico.

Officials say the ring charged immigrants $2,500 each and hid them in houses and motels, first along the border and then in houses in San Antonio, Austin and in rural locations.

Homeland security officials dismantled the ring of at least 28 smugglers in September.

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Information from: San Antonio Express-News

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.