Three Liverpool men and a third from Manchester face prison time in the US if convicted of unlawfully entering the country
The international border path which separates Maine, USA from Quebec, Canada(Image: Getty Images/Cavan Images RF)
Three Liverpool men have been named after being detained by US authorities after allegedly sneaking over the border.
Ali Abdullah, 18, Hameed Nagi, 21, and Mohammed Saleh, 22, known as Mo, were arrested by US Border Patrol as they walked through rural forest in the northern state of Maine, close to the Canadian border. Mo Saleh is former boss of the now-closed Hot & Spicy X Shuga Shuga takeaway on North Hill Street, Toxteth. A fourth man, Ibrahim Khan, 27, from Manchester, was detained by Border Patrol agents alongside the three Liverpudlians on April 3.
The four were hauled before the United States District Court in Maine on April 7 to answer charges that they unlawfully entered the United States.
According to a sworn affidavit that sets out the prosecution’s case, the alarm was raised with US authorities by two maple sugar workers who were walking to work in Canada along a heavily forested dirt track known as the ‘Golden Road’ on Friday morning (April 3).
The pair told an officer at a border post at St Zacharie that four men were walking along the unpaved logging track into the United States.
The former Hot & Spicy X Shuga Shuga on North Hill Street, Toxteth
The maple sugar workers returned 25 minutes later to report they had heard two men in a grey Nissan stopped on the Golden Road were asking passers-by for fuel and wi-fi to contact people they were supposed to pick up.
Border Patrol officers began scouring the road, heading south from the border post into the States.
They stopped and found fresh footprints in soft dirt on the road. Three miles further south, they found four men “attempting to conceal themselves behind vegetation”, according to the affidavit.
The four told the officers they were British and were unaware they were in the United States, the affidavit claims. The affidavit states that another border patrol agent followed the trail of footprints back to the Canadian border.
The officer claimed the group passed through the woods a few hundred yards of the border post at St Zacharie.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent walks through the woods along the border of Canada and the United States in Houlton, Maine(Image: Gregory Rec/Portland Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
Satellite images show the area is remote, with sparse logging camps on the American side and sugar farms on the Canadian side. The nearest paved road is some 20 miles south.
The four were transported to the nearest town of Jackman, population 783. The town is 32 miles from the point at which they allegedly crossed the border.
The four were held at the Jackman Border Patrol Station, close to popular fishing and camping spots around a lake known as ‘Long Pond’.
The three border patrol officers who detained the men continued south. Seven miles further along the Golden Road they found two men in a grey Nissan, which was out of fuel.
The two men identified themselves as US citizens. The affidavit alleges that a loaded 9mm handgun was found under the driver’s seat.
The two men were also transported to the Border Patrol Station in Jackman on suspicion of “involvement in a suspected alien smuggling event”.
The four men were taken to Jackman Border Protection Station.(Image: Google)
The affidavit states that, when interviewed by officers, Nagi denied knowing that he was entering the US and said he was just going on a hike with the group.
Abdulah declined to answer questions. Saleh denied intentionally entering the United States and said he was just going for a hike.
The affidavit alleges the passenger of the Nissan admitted the driver had intended to pick up an individual who he had dropped off in the same area 30 days earlier.
Searches of the phones carried by the driver allegedly turned up text messages believed to be with one of the four men discussing expected arrival times and where they were to be picked up.
Saleh had allegedly made searches for “Bangor from my location”, “Boston from Bangor” and “New York from Boston” as well as “is St Zacharie border crossing still used the one near Quebec Golden Road”.
A patch on the uniform of a U.S. Border Patrol agent at a highway checkpoint in West Enfield, Maine.(Image: Scott Eisen/Getty Images)
The four also allegedly filmed themselves on a Go-Pro camera. In the footage, Saleh allegedly announces to the group “I can confirm you are now on US soil”.
Abdullah asks “I’m on US soil?” and Saleh replies “You are on US soil” while showing his phone screen with GPS location displayed. He adds, “Now we are in the US. We just made it, baby.”
The four could face imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of $5,000 if convicted.