A Colombian man who allegedly used TikTok to lure migrants into a deadly smuggling scheme is facing extradition from Canada to the United States.
Jhader Aguusto Uribe-Tobar, 35, is accused of conspiring to smuggle migrants across the border for money and causing the death of a pregnant woman who drowned in a river near Champlain, N.Y., in December.
Uribe-Tobar currently resides in Montreal.
According to the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of New York, Uribe-Tobar posted videos on TikTok under a fake name, offering to guide migrants by text message as they crossed the border on foot.
He allegedly charged Ana Karen Vasquez-Flores, 33, and her husband US$2,500 for his services, but left them alone in the woods as they approached the border.
Vasquez-Flores’s husband managed to reach a border patrol agent and reported that his wife was missing.
Her body was found two days later in the Great Chazy River, which runs along the border. She was six months pregnant.
The RCMP arrested Uribe-Tobar at his residence in St-Hyacinthe, Que. on Dec. 29 following an extradition request from the U.S. authorities.
He appeared in court on Dec. 28 and is expected to return on Jan. 12.
The U.S. charges against him carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment or death.
