Brazil arrests Bangladeshi leader of human smuggling ring

An international human smuggling ring -- from Bangladesh via South America to Mexico with the United States as its end destination -- was busted with the arrest of its leader in Brazil.

Thursday (Oct. 31) extensive coordination and cooperation efforts between United States and Brazilian law enforcement authorities culminated in the Brazil Federal Police (DPF) conducting a significant enforcement operation to disrupt and dismantle a transnational alien smuggling organization, including the arrest on Brazilian charges of an alleged alien smuggler who has also been indicted in the United States.

The alien smugglers targeted in this operation are alleged to be responsible for the illicit smuggling of scores of individuals from South Asia and elsewhere, into Brazil, and ultimately to the United States.

Saifullah Al-Mamun aka Saiful Al-Mamun, 32, was arrested in Brazil. Al-Mamun is charged in a superseding indictment unsealed Thursday in the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas – Laredo Division, charging him with eight conspiracy and alien smuggling counts.

The enforcement operation included the execution of multiple search warrants and the additional arrests of seven Brazil-based human smugglers on Brazilian charges: Saifullah Al-Mamun, 32; Saiful Islam, 32; Tamoor Khalid, 31; Nazrul Islam, 41; Mohammad Ifran Chaudhary, 39; Mohammad Nizam Uddin, 28; and Md Bulbul Hossain, 36.

According to the indictment, Al-Mamun is alleged to have housed the aliens in São Paulo, Brazil and arranged for their travel through a network of smugglers operating out of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico to the United States. In return for smuggling the aliens into the US, Al-Mumun and his two co-conspirators, are alleged to have arranged to be paid in Mexico, Central America, South America, Bangladesh, and elsewhere.

“Today’s indictment shows our commitment to prosecute here in the United States those alien smugglers who put our country’s public safety at risk by attempting to thwart our system of legal immigration,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. 

Two of the co-conspirators, both of whom are Bangladeshi nationals, were arrested in August.

Milon Miah, who was living in Tapachula, Mexico, was arrested Aug. 31 on arrival at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, to face charges in the superseding indictment for his role in the scheme to smuggle aliens into the US.

Moktar Hossain, 31, formerly residing in Monterrey, Mexico, pleaded guilty on Aug. 27 for his role in the scheme to smuggle aliens to the US for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.

“Transnational human smuggling organizations threaten the security of the United States,” said Special Agent in Charge Scott Brown of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Phoenix.

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Bangladeshi national pleads guilty to smuggling people into US at Mexico border

A Bangladeshi national who lived in Monterrey, Mexico, pleaded guilty for his role in a scheme to smuggle people to the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.

With the plea on Tuesday (Aug. 27), Moktar Hossain, 31, admitted that from March 2017 to August 2018, he  brought Bangladeshi nationals into the US at the Texas border in exchange for payment. 

Hossain operated out of Monterrey, Mexico, where he housed aliens before sending them on the last leg of the journey to the US. Hossain paid drivers to transport the Bangladesh natives to the  border, and gave them instructions how to cross the Rio Grande River.

“Human smuggling is a national security threat,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Today’s plea makes clear that defendants who smuggle illegal aliens across the United States border for profit should expect to face the consequences in a United States courtroom.”

The guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Diana Saldana. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

Hossain's arrest spotlights the increasing number of would-be border crossers coming from other parts of the world. Gurpreet Kaur, a 7-year old girl from India died from heat exhaustion earlier this year attempting to trek through the harsh desert environment.

This case is being investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)-Laredo, with assistance from HSI offices in Monterrey, Houston, Calexico, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service. 

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.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys James Hepburn and Erin Cox of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

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