in a series of raids in several states, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and Ecuador. Two of the ringleaders were arrested, including Nick Diaz, also known as Nitin Shettie. Diaz was arrested in a raid in the Bahamas on November 14, 1998, and after his arrest by Bahamian authorities he was then taken into U.S. custody. The raid in the Bahamas detained dozens of Indian citizens waiting to make the last leg of the trip to the United States. An INS videotape showed Diaz being taken into custody, the Indian nationals who were being smuggled, and documents including piles of airline tickets used by the Indians to fly to the Caribbean via Moscow. A federal grand jury in Dallas, where the investigation began, charged Shettie and 30 others in three sealed indictments that contained nearly 60 immigration and money-laundering counts. Eighteen alien smugglers accepted guilty pleas. Then-INS Commissioner Doris Meissner hailed the success of the operation, saying, "Cracking a multimillion-dollar alien smuggling ring whose operations spanned four continents is an impressive achievement that underscores INS' commitment to defending the integrity of this nation's immigration laws ... we have disrupted and dismantled a major criminal enterprise." Groundbreaking Operation Operation Seek and Keep was the first investigation authorized to use wiretapping technology in an illegal immigrant smuggling case, as approved by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, The INS used the new authority to intercept electronic communications, monitoring 35,000-plus calls. Also, for the first time, federal prosecutors used money-laundering statutes to smash an alien smuggling operation and seize assets. References External links U.S. Department of Justice U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of the DHS U.S. Attorney's Office, North District of Texas Immigration to the United States Operations against organized crime in the United States