16 Marines arrested in human smuggling investigation

SAN DIEGO» An investigation into troops smuggling immigrants into the United States led to the arrest Thursday of 16 Marines at California’s Camp Pendleton, a base about an hour’s drive from the U.S.-Mexico border.

None of the 16 Marines were involved in helping enforce border security, the Marine Corps said in a news release. They are accused of crimes ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses.

Officials could not immediately be reached for additional details.

It comes weeks after two Marines were arrested by a Border Patrol agent on suspicion of smuggling three Mexicans into the United States.

The military said information gained from that operation led to the 16 arrests during a morning battalion formation at Camp Pendleton, the Marine Corps’ largest base on the West Coast.

Eight of the 16 Marines were being questioned about their involvement in drug offenses as part of a separate investigation.

Marines and other U.S. troops were brought in last year to help the Department of Homeland Security reinforce the border by installing razor wire on top of existing barriers. Military troops are barred from making arrests of immigrants.

Officials from 1st Marine Division worked alongside the Naval Criminal Investigative Service in the investigation that started after the July 3 arrests of two Marines charged in federal court with human smuggling.

A U.S. Border Patrol agent stopped Lance Cpl. Byron Darnell Law II and Lance Cpl. David Javier Salazar about 7 miles north of the border after being alerted by other agents that a vehicle similar to theirs was suspected of picking up immigrants in the country illegally.