Human trafficking: US embassy files case against 5 Bangladeshis

The US Embassy in Dhaka has filed a case against five Bangladeshis, including a Awami League leader, for their alleged involvement in human trafficking.

Michael Lee, assistant regional security officer of the US Embassy in Dhaka, filed the case with Gulshan Police Station on Monday, Sheikh Shahanur Rahman, inspector (Investigation) of the police Station, told The Daily Star.

The accused are -- Mofizur Rahman, Mohammad Nur Alam, Ashraful Alam Bhuiyan, Mohammed Zaman, and one Vasani.

Of them, police arrested Mofizur, 54, and Ashraful,33, from Dhaka recently, said the police official.

Natore District AL President Sirazul Islam confirmed that Ashraful is the industries and trade affairs secretary of Natore district AL.

In the case statement, the US Embassy official said that Mofizur came to the embassy for a visa re-interview on February 11.

During the interview, he admitted that he works as a broker who traffics Bangladeshi citizens to Dubai and works with other brokers who smuggle Bangladeshi citizens to Latin America with the intent to send them to the United States illegally.

Mofizur claimed that he sent his brother from Bangladesh to India and then India to Suriname, a South American country. From there, he went to the United States through the Mexican border.

About Asharaful Alam Bhuiyan, the official said that he is a broker who send people into the United States illegally through Paraguay, another South American country.

according to the case statement, an immigration officer at the Shahjalal International Airport help Asharaful in trafficking people for money, added the case statement.

The FIR further stated that Mofizur and Ashraful trafficked people in different countries for huge amounts of money. They have identified themselves as garment traders in the documents submitted to travel to the United States. But they are actually brokers, it added.

The Counter Terrorism and Transnational Crime unit will investigate the case, said Shahanur Rahman, the Gulshan PS inspector.