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A brazen human smuggling operation that spanned the globe has been brought to its knees, thanks to a daring extradition from Brazil. Saifullah Al-Mamun, a 39-year-old Bangladeshi national, made his initial appearance in Laredo, Texas, on July 8, after being extradited from Brazil. Al-Mamun is facing serious charges for his role in a transnational human smuggling organization that smuggled aliens from Bangladesh into the United States.
According to court documents, Al-Mamun was part of a wide-ranging human smuggling operation that involved his co-defendants, Mohamad Milon Hossain and Moktar Hossain, both of Bangladesh. The trio allegedly facilitated the travel of scores of aliens from São Paulo, Brazil, and other locations in South America, Central America, and Mexico, so that they could illegally enter the United States. Al-Mamun was known to house aliens in São Paulo and arrange their travel, while his co-defendants played similar roles in Tapachula, Mexico, and Monterrey, Mexico.
The operation was a lucrative one, with aliens paying tens of thousands of dollars to individuals in Bangladesh to help them travel illegally to the United States. However, many of the aliens faced significant danger while attempting to cross the Rio Grande River into the United States. Al-Mamun’s co-defendants, Mohamad Milon Hossain and Moktar Hossain, have already pleaded guilty to their roles in the operation and are facing 46 months in prison each.
Al-Mamun, however, is facing more serious charges, including conspiracy to bring an alien to the United States, multiple counts of bringing an alien to the United States for financial gain, and conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to enter the United States. If convicted on all counts of bringing an alien to the United States for financial gain, he faces a minimum penalty of five years in prison and a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. If convicted of conspiracy to bring and/or conspiracy to encourage and induce and alien to enter the United States, he faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.
The investigation into Al-Mamun’s human smuggling operation was a collaborative effort between the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Phoenix and several other law enforcement agencies, including the HSI Human Smuggling Unit in Washington, D.C., U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s International Interdiction Task Force, and the U.S. Marshals Service. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs provided significant assistance in securing Al-Mamun’s arrest and extradition from Brazil.
Source: Department of Justice
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