Two Turkish human smugglers arrested at port in New Jersey

Agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have raided a Turkish cargo ship in New Jersey, arresting the ship's first officer and chief engineer on human smuggling claims. 

First officer Özcan Köse, 36, and his brother Oğuz Köse, 35, will be tried in Pennsylvania after having been accused of taking 25,000 dollars each to engage in human smuggling.

U.S. agents raided the Turkish cargo ship Niledutch Opresy, which was at the Elizabeth Port, on Jan. 30, detaining the Köse brothers on charges that they engaged in human smuggling to the U.S. and "turned it into a trade." Two illegal Turkish passengers were also detained. 

According to a criminal complaint filed and sent to the Pennsylvania Eastern Region Federal Court by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Nicholas K. Feil, the smuggling network founded by the brothers surfaced after a Turkish secret witness, who was smuggled into the U.S. in May 2013, was caught by the police in April 2016 and became an informant.

The secret witness said he met Özcan Köse, then captain of the ship the Cafer Dede, via two Turkish citizens in the Pennsylvanian towns of Levittown and Lancaster, identified respectively only as Adem and İzzet. He said he met Köse after sending a picture of himself to a person named Samet Öztürk on Facebook. Köse and the secret witness then met in the Aliağa district of the western province of İzmir. 

Noting that he gave the smugglers 25,000 dollars each, the secret witness said he passed through a security check with a fake ID and hid in the chamber of the ship for a total of 18 days during the trip. 

The secret witness told police that he and Köse spoke at length during the trip and that Köse told him he had smuggled a number of...