FBI intelligence points to Brownsville human-trafficking operation

FBI agents obtained intelligence in May that uncovered an international human-trafficking organization in Brownsville believed responsible for the smuggling of undocumented immigrants into the U.S. and the laundering money into Mexico.

An apparently sophisticated operation, which included housing immigrants, handwritten entries in ledgers with telephone numbers and amounts of money were found in a south Brownsville residence, an affidavit that a FBI agent filed in federal court in support of a search warrant reflects.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald G. Morgan issued the search warrant for the Brownsville residence May 22, according to federal court records. The address of the house is blocked out in the records, apparently because an investigation continues. The search warrant was executed the same day.

The residence was empty when the search warrant was executed.

The documents obtained from the search warrant contained the names Campe, Gume, Catrin and Paty.

There were also receipts for money order transactions, the public record shows.

Furthermore, bills, letters, seven cellular telephones, documents, and a camcorder, with a memory card and its purchase receipt, were secured from kitchen counters, kitchen overhead cupboards, a hallway closet, garage area, a rear bedroom, in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, and on top of a bar in the dual living room-kitchen area, public records reflect.

The residence is not one to bring attention. It is a two-story brick house with a carport, which had a vehicle underneath, and what appeared to be streams of last year's Christmas lights still hanging from the roof, a photograph of the house contained in the court record shows.

The investigation started innocently enough.

A Cameron County Special Operations patrol unit conducted a stop of a blue Suburban on May 20 for a traffic violation near International Boulevard and Lincoln Street.

The county officer suspected that the two men in the vehicle were undocumented immigrants and, with assistance from U.S. Border Patrol agents, this was ascertained, the public record shows.

The two undocumented immigrants led officers to the house where a third man there also admitted to being in the U.S. illegally.

Stacks of plywood were in the carport area with writings and markings that said Ethiopia and Honduras. Backpacks and duffel bags also were spotted at the house. A Bible in the Hebrew language also was found, federal court records state.

The names Campe and Gume had also been encountered on May 17 at another house in south Brownsville, according to the search warrant. The house was linked to the smuggling of undocumented immigrants via an investigation that the FBI, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Brownsville Police Department conducted.

Court records indicate that the human trafficking case continues to be investigated.