The Cuban state-run media reported two men have been sentenced for the crime of killing four people who were trying to leave the communist island in June. Along with the two charged with murder, five more people were also sentenced in connection with a caper designed to con Cubans who wished to migrate from the country into thinking they would be smuggled out when instead the victims would have their money stolen.

According to BBC, it has not been made clear how the four Cubans were killed.

Seven people were conspiring to cheat Cubans who desired to leave the country out of their money by telling the victims they would be smuggled off and brought to the U.S. by sea in exchange for an unnamed sum. Eleven people in all were signed up for the smuggling.

On the day of the supposed departure, the criminal party took the would-be migrants out one by one to a remote location in Artemisa province, west of Havana. At this point, the people were attacked, and their money was taken from them. The attack resulted in four deaths.

The men found guilty of the murders, Jorge Luis Salazar Ricardo and Reinier Armas Garcia, were sentenced to life in prison. The other five of the seven accused were sentenced to jail in terms that ranged from eight to 25 years.

Despite the fact the requirement for government-issued exit permits in Cuba was lifted in 2013, many Cubans are nevertheless electing to pay smugglers rather than take a chance they might be turned down for a passport or a visa.

Although no one is sure how many Cubans have left their country to seek refuge in other countries like the U.S., Venezuela, Argentina, and Spain, according to the Harvard Crimson, the number, since the revolution, is somewhere between 400,000 and 500,000.

The dream of coming to the U.S. is particularly enticing as any Cuban who sets foot on American soil is immediately entitled to stay. In 2014, the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted more than 2,000 Cubans trying to reach U.S. shores by makeshift boats and rafts.

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