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Published : 14 Jul 2026, 11:51 AM
A Bangladeshi national arrested in Brazil about seven years ago on allegations of trafficking migrants from Bangladesh to the United States has now been transferred to the US to stand trial.
A US Department of Justice official said Mamun was produced before the federal court in Laredo of Texas on Monday.
According to the charges, Saifullah Al-Mamun arranged to smuggle Bangladeshis into the US via Brazil and Mexico, charging each person between Tk 3 million and Tk 3.5 million.
He was arrested in Brazil's Sao Paulo state on Oct 31, 2019, by FBI agents.
Following a lengthy legal process, Brazil handed Mamun over to the FBI on Jul 8 under an extradition agreement.
He now faces multiple human trafficking charges before a federal court in Texas.
A Justice Department official said Mamun could be sentenced to between five and 15 years in prison if convicted.
Mukhtar Hossain and Milon Hossain, who were arrested as key members of the same Bangladeshi trafficking network, have already been sentenced by a federal court in Texas to 46 months in prison each.
A federal prosecutor said their sentences were reduced because they pleaded guilty.
According to court documents, young Bangladeshis who paid large sums of money were first kept at camps in Sao Paulo.
At an opportune time, they were moved through several South and Central American countries before being taken to a camp in Mexico’s Tapachula by operatives working for Mamun.
The migrants were then transported to Monterrey, near the US border, before being instructed to swim across the Rio Grande River to enter the United States.
Investigators traced Mamun after Milon and Mukhtar were arrested in Mexico, the final transit point on the smuggling route.
Information they provided led authorities to Mamun, who was later arrested in Sao Paulo.
Justice Department officials said the FBI has so far arrested 464 people from Bangladesh and several other countries as part of investigations into international human trafficking networks.
Of them, 414 have received prison sentences of varying lengths, while 360 were handed lengthy terms.
The US Department of Justice's Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) has been leading efforts to identify and arrest members of international trafficking networks.
Officials said many Bangladeshis who crossed into the US through Mexico and later sought political asylum after being detained by border authorities provided investigators with information about the traffickers.
That intelligence ultimately led to the arrests of Mukhtar, Mamun 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.
