SANTIAGO, Chile -- Chilean police have shut down an immigrant-smuggling pipeline that allegedly funneled about 400 Cubans to Miami through the country's capital during the past year.

According to police, the Chilean ring charged Cuban exiles in South Florida $8,000 per person to get their relatives out of Cuba to Santiago, and then onto flights to Miami.

When they arrived at Miami International Airport, the Cubans would request political asylum, Chilean police said.

Police identified the ringleader as Renato Powell, a Chilean in the tourism business, who was arrested with five other Chileans and one Brazilian.

Chilean authorities, who announced the arrests on Sunday, told El Mercurio newspaper in Santiago this was the first time they had uncovered an alien-transfer venture of this magnitude.

Smugglers have used other Latin American nations, including Panama, Bolivia and the Dominican Republic, as transfer points for U.S.-bound illegal immigrants from Cuba, China and India, among other countries.

The Chilean ring allegedly used a time-tested method for bringing people out of Cuba.

Police said Powell, 64, contacted Cuban exiles in Miami who wanted to help relatives leave the island. Then Powell would travel to Cuba to arrange temporary Chilean visas that allowed the relatives to travel outside the island.

Once in Santiago, police told El Mercurio, the Cubans would be housed for about 10 days at a ring member's home while phony documents and travel arrangements were prepared.

Using fake Cuban, Chilean and Spanish passports, the Cubans then would board a Miami flight accompanied by ring members. The Cubans would surrender their passports to the ring members, who disembarked during a stop in Buenos Aires.

The Cubans went on to Miami International, where they arrived with no documents. U.S. immigration authorities typically release undocumented Cubans who reach U.S. soil after a brief detention.

El Mercurio said a Chilean airline that unwittingly brought many of the Cubans to Miami was fined $3,000 per person. The newspaper did not identify the airline.