Federal authorities in Los Angeles arrested two alleged leaders of a criminal organization suspected of smuggling 20,000 people from Guatemala to the U.S. and charging each person as much as $18,000 to get them into the country.

Authorities described the Torko Organization as one of the largest human smuggling operations in the United States.

Federal law enforcement in Los Angeles Monday announced charges against four people suspected of smuggling about 20,000 undocumented immigrants from Guatemala to the United States, including seven who died in a car crash in 2023.

Two of the four ringleaders of the human smuggling operation involving undocumented immigrants from Guatemala coming into the U.S. through Mexico were arrested in Los Angeles.