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TORONTO — Canadian authorities are claiming to have uncovered a human smuggling ring that has brought hundreds of Romanian refugee claimants to the Toronto area through Mexico, the National Post has learned.

The smugglers are charging between $10,000 and $30,000 for passage to Canada along a route that runs from Mexico to Texas to greater Toronto, according to sources who did not want to be identified.

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Those using the pipeline are said to be arriving in Canada indebted to the smugglers and are made to repay them by applying for welfare benefits and engaging in low-level organized crime, the sources said.

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The suspected smuggling scheme is being blamed for a recent spike in Romanian refugee claims, which have climbed from just 57 in 2007 to 258 last year, according to Immigration and Refugee Board figures.

So far, 209 claims have been filed this year (up to the end of September), a pace that would see another jump in 2012. Most claim that as ethnic Roma they face persecution in their home country, but few Romanian refugee claims have been accepted.