07/29/2024 – 21:01
The Federal Court in São Paulo has convicted two Bangladeshis of money laundering and currency fraud linked to a large illegal immigration scheme based in Brazil. One of the defendants is identified as the world’s largest human trafficker, the prosecutor’s office said.
Targets of a complaint by the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office within the scope of the Estação Brás and Bengal Tiger operations, launched in 2019, the defendants received sentences of 7 years and 6 months for one of them, identified as the leader of the scheme, and 5 years and 3 months for the other. An appeal is possible.
The leader of the scheme moved R$5.1 million between 2013 and 2018, despite declaring a monthly income of approximately R$8,000, highlights the Prosecutor’s Office.
The organization’s victims were mainly from Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The main gateway into Brazil was São Paulo International Airport in Guarulhos. The immigrants entered the country with illicit documents provided by the scheme. They were then taken to accommodations in downtown São Paulo and were only allowed to continue their journey after full payment for the illegal services.
The Bangladeshis who ran the scheme charged R$69,000 from each immigrant – R$25,000 for arrival in Brazil and R$47,000 for the journey to the United States.
The Prosecutor’s Office highlights that the routes ‘involved numerous risks’. The victims crossed Brazil towards cities close to the border and, upon crossing, had to travel overland through several countries until reaching the border that separates Mexico from the United States.
Among the dangers of displacement, the Federal Public Ministry points out, were the hostile environment of the Darién Jungle, on the border between Colombia and Panama, and kidnappings carried out by Mexican cartels. Many died along the way. Others who managed to reach the United States were arrested for illegal immigration.
The two Bangladeshis had already been convicted of organized crime and promoting illegal migration in another case related to the two operations. The prison sentences now imposed are in addition to those applied in the previous sentence, of 14 years and eight months for the alleged leader of the scheme and eight years and three months for his accomplice.
The Prosecutor’s Office’s complaint points out that, between 2016 and 2018, the two main defendants and at least 10 other suspects organized an extensive clandestine network to smuggle South Asian immigrants who were passing through Brazil on their way to the United States.
The group’s base was in the Brás neighborhood, in the central region of São Paulo. There, the boss maintained a travel agency and other types of businesses used to give the appearance of a legal front to the illicit activities.
The Federal Police found that other members of the organization were based in Asia and other Latin American countries.
Laundering and false identity
The new conviction of the two Bangladeshis was imposed in a criminal action regarding concealment of the illicit origin of funds raised through the illegal immigration scheme.
The PF found that the accused laundered money using a device known as ‘smurfling’ – a method that consists of dividing the amount into small amounts deposited in several bank accounts to mislead the authorities regarding the illegality of the total amount.
Several accounts were opened using documents from immigrants arrested in the United States, but all remained under the control of the group. The Federal Police and the Prosecutor’s Office discovered that the group’s leader often assumed the identities of the victims and pretended to be them to handle banking services and authorize transactions.
To complete the money laundering operation, the Prosecutor’s Office claims, the defendants used money launderers, receiving the funds through deposits from agencies in border cities, mainly in western Paraná.
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