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Sixteen U.S. Marines Arrested for Alleged Human Smuggling, Drug-Related Offenses

The arrests are tied to an incident earlier this month involving two officers who allegedly made money off of smuggling people across the border.

Sixteen U.S. Marines were arrested Thursday for alleged “illegal activities ranging from human smuggling to drug-related offenses,” Task & Purpose reports. The arrests stem from an incident in early July, when two Marines were arrested after they allegedly tried to profit off of shuttling people from Mexico into the U.S. Following the arrest of Lance Cpl. Byron Law and Lance Cpl. David Javier Salazar-Quintero, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service took information from the infantrymen’s phones, leading to Thursday’s arrest. “Any Marines found to be in connection with these alleged activities will be questioned and handled accordingly with respect to due process,” a Marine Corps statement reportedly said. The Marines arrested Thursday are with the 1st Marine Division, but it is not yet known to which specific unit they belong. Eight other Marines were also taken in for questioning related to alleged drug offenses. The arrests were made in Camp Pendleton, California, during a battalion formation.