A Bangladeshi national residing in Monterrey, Mexico, was arrested Friday (Nov. 30) on arrival at George Bush Intercontinental Airport to face a criminal indictment for his role in a scheme to smuggle undocumented Bengladeshi into the United States via Mexico.
The unsealed indictment issued in the Laredo Division of the Southern District of Texas alleges that from March 2017 to August 2018, Moktar Hossain, 30, conspired to bring and brought 14 Bangladeshi nationals to the United States at the Texas border in exchange for a fee. Hossain operated out of Monterrey, Mexico, where he maintained a hotel that housed aliens before they were transported to the U.S. border by drivers paid by Hossain.
“Smugglers are driven by simple greed with no thought for human compassion. HSI continues to work with our law enforcement partners to maintain the integrity of our border and the safety of our communities.” said Special Agent in Charge Shane M. Folden of of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).
Hossain was presented Dec. 1 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena Hanovice Palermo in the Southern District of Texas for his initial appearance. At the hearing, Judge Palermo ordered that Hossain be held pending transfer to Laredo for further criminal proceedings.
Bangladesh is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking, according to a report from the U.S. State Department. Some Bangladeshi men and women who migrate willingly to work in the Middle East, Southern and East Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Europe, and the United States face conditions indicative of forced labor.
The investigation is being conducted under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and HSI.
The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks, or present grave humanitarian concerns.
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