TEXAS
A significant enforcement operation to disrupt and dismantle a transnational alien smuggling organization resulted in the arrest of several people in South East Asia, Brazil, and the U.S., officials announced Thursday.
A key suspect, Saifullah Al-Mamun aka Saiful Al-Mamun, 32, was arrested in Brazil, officials stated.
Al-Mamun is charged in a superseding indictment unsealed today in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas – Laredo Division, charging him with eight conspiracy and alien smuggling counts.
To read the superseding indictment ciick here: DOJ
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 officials.
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 United States, Al-Mumun and his two co-conspirators, are alleged to have arranged to be paid in Mexico, Central America, South America, Bangladesh, and elsewhere.
“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. “Through a significant joint effort with our domestic and international law enforcement partners, these arrests signify another victory as we continue to investigate and dismantle those who conspire to undermine our nation’s immigration laws for their own profit.”
Milon Miah, a Bangladeshi national who was residing 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 United States.
Moktar Hossain, 31, a Bangladeshi national formerly residing in Monterrey, Mexico, pleaded guilty on Aug. 27 for his role in the scheme to smuggle aliens to the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage or private financial gain.