Suspect in Smuggling of Clams Is Believed to Be Part of a Ring

Exposing what they believe may be an underground railroad of sorts for clams, federal authorities in San Diego this week arraigned a Los Angeles man charged with smuggling more than a ton of the mollusks into the United States from Mexico earlier this month.

Alejandro Ladines-Almeida, 38, was arraigned Wednesday on three felony counts of smuggling the clams through San Diego for eventual sale to fish houses and markets in Los Angeles. He was released on $15,000 personal surety bond.

The charges stem from Ladines’ arrest April 7, allegedly while trying to smuggle 2,600 pounds of black clams through the Temecula checkpoint from Mexico, said Asst. U. S. Atty. Melanie K. Pierson.

The charges at Wednesday’s arraignment also incorporate a previous arrest of Ladines in April, 1986, for trying to drive through the San Clemente checkpoint with 23 sacks of illegal black clams, Pierson said.

Pierson said the two arrests, coupled with the belief that others are involved in the smuggling, has led federal authorities to conclude that there is an underground railroad running the illegal mollusks from Mexico through San Diego.

“That’s the way we look at it,� Pierson said. “It’s another case of smuggling. They’re just smuggling clams instead of humans or drugs.�

She said that, in Ladines’ case, there is even evidence that the smugglers took the clams to a “load house� in San Ysidro, where customers came to pick up their orders of the illegal mollusks.

Under the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, clams cannot be sold or transported in the United States unless they are harvested from federally certified waters that are known to be free of pollution, particularly human wastes, Pierson said.

“Whatever filters through the water, they eat,� Pierson said of the clams. “And live clams are known to be carriers of viral diseases, such as infectious hepatitis, typhoid, salmonella and cholera.�

Pierson said tests were performed on the clams seized from Ladines this month and 2 years ago, but she declined to say whether they showed the presence of any harmful bacteria.

Clams from foreign waters are suspect, according to the indictment against Ladines. Bringing clams in from Mexico is illegal unless the importer has a permit from the federal government, it says.

Ladines did not have such a permit, the indictment says. The black clams allegedly smuggled into the United States by Ladines are harvested from uncertified waters extending from Baja Mexico to Peru, the indictment says.

Each count carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Ladines, an Ecuadorean national, is a legal resident alien living in Los Angeles.