Bangladeshi National Arrested for Immigrant Smuggling
Upon arrival at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas, Milon Miah was arrested for conspiring to smuggle individuals into the United States. Miah allegedly conspired to bring and brought 15 Bangladeshi nationals to the U.S. in exchange for payment.
Miah had been residing in Tapachula, Mexico prior to his arrest. According to the DOJ press release, Miah maintained a hotel in the area where he housed and fed the Bangladeshi migrants.
Miah also provided the migrants with plane tickets to locations in northern Mexico where the individuals could meet up with smugglers to transport them across the border.
Miah’s coconspirator, Moktar Hossain, admitted last month to assisting in the smuggling operation from March 2017 to August 2018.
“Human smuggling rings endanger the security of the United States,” said Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “This arrest sends a strong message that the Department is dedicated to holding accountable those who conspire to subvert our nation’s immigration laws for their own profit.”
The investigation was a joint effort among several immigration authorities, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Laredo, HSI Mexico City, HSI Monterrey, HSI Houston, HSI Calexico, Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol and the U.S. Marshals Service.
The investigation occurred under the Extraterritorial Criminal Travel Strike Force (ECT) program, a joint partnership between the Justice Department’s Criminal Division and HSI.
According to the DOJ, “The ECT program focuses on human smuggling networks that may present particular national security or public safety risks or present grave humanitarian concerns. ECT has dedicated investigative, intelligence and prosecutorial resources. ECT coordinates and receives assistance from other U.S. government agencies and foreign law enforcement authorities.”
TAKEDOWN UPDATE: In April, FEDagent covered the DOJ and U.S. Postal Inspection Service takedown of four Peruvian nationals for operating a large scale extortion scheme. This week, all four were sentenced. According to a DOJ release, U.S. District Court Judge Roy K. Altman sentenced Gutierrez to 51 months in federal prison for his role overseeing the affiliated call centers and sentenced Podesta and Polo to 46 months imprisonment. Judge Altman sentenced Portocarrero to 46 months in federal prison on July 24. Each defendant was also ordered to serve three years’ supervised release following their terms of incarceration and to make restitution payments to the victims of their scheme.