From the NY Daily News:

A federal air marshal was arrested Tuesday on charges he played a role in a human trafficking ring that officials say worked out of a Flushing nightclub.

Byungki Koo, 33, of Fresh Meadows, surrendered to officials Tuesday after he was indicted on charges that he tried to obstruct the probe of a slavery operation that investigators believe was based out of the Renaissance Bar at 35-28 154th St.

The latest charges in the case are another indication that federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, who first indicted the Renaissance owners last year on assorted slavery and trafficking charges, are ramping up the probe.

Investigators with the Brooklyn U.S. attorney’s office have been following leads back to South Korea through the banking system and in other parts of Queens as part of a growing probe of the nightclub scene catering to Asian immigrants, sources familiar with the case said.

The indictment unsealed Tuesday accused Koo of trying to kidnap a woman. He was charged with obstructing enforcement of the federal peonage law, which covers the use of forced labor to pay off debts. Koo was believed to be working as an air marshal when he allegedly committed the crime, a source said…

comments (0)   trackbacks (1)