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A Bangladeshi national arrested in Brazil nearly seven years ago on charges of smuggling migrants from Bangladesh to the United States has been extradited to the US to face trial.
Saifullah Al-Mamun was handed over to US authorities and produced before a federal court in Laredo, Texas, on Monday, a US Department of Justice official said.
According to prosecutors, Mamun charged Tk3–3.5 million per person to smuggle Bangladeshi nationals into the US through Brazil and Mexico. He was arrested by FBI agents in São Paulo state, Brazil, on October 31, 2019.
After a lengthy legal process, Brazil extradited Mamun to the FBI on July 8 under a prisoner transfer agreement. He now faces multiple human trafficking-related charges in a federal court in Texas.
A Justice Department official said Mamun could face five to 15 years in prison if convicted.
US authorities allege Mamun was part of a Bangladesh-based human trafficking network. Two other alleged ringleaders, Moktar Hossain and Milon Hossain, have already been sentenced to 46 months in prison each by a federal court in Texas after pleading guilty, resulting in reduced sentences.
According to court documents, Bangladeshi migrants who paid large sums of money were first taken to camps in São Paulo, before being moved through several South and Central American countries to a camp in Tapachula, Mexico.
They were then transported to Monterrey, near the US border, and instructed to swim across the Rio Grande to enter the United States.
Investigators traced Mamun after the arrests of Moktar and Milon in Mexico, whose information led the FBI to apprehend him in São Paulo.
Justice Department officials said the FBI has so far arrested 464 people from Bangladesh and other countries linked to international human trafficking networks. Of them, 414 have been convicted, with 360 receiving lengthy prison terms.
The US Department of Justice’s Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) has been leading efforts to identify and prosecute members of transnational human trafficking networks.
Investigators gathered intelligence from many Bangladeshi migrants who sought political asylum after being detained at the US-Mexico border, leading to the arrests of Mamun, Moktar and Milon.
Investigations are continuing into several other suspected members of the network, some of whom are believed to be in Dhaka, Noakhali and Sylhet, according to a US Justice Department official.
