A man from Bangladesh stood before a federal judge in Laredo on Monday. His name is Saifullah Al-Mamun. People call him Mamun. Agents say he ran a smuggling ring. The ring moved migrants from Bangladesh all the way to South Texas.

Federal officials say Mamun charged high fees. He is accused of sneaking Bangladeshi migrants into the US. He is not the only man charged in this case. Two other men from his group already went to prison. This case shows how far one smuggling ring can reach. It starts in Asia. It ends at the Rio Grande.

FBI agents arrested Mamun in Sao Paulo, Brazil. That happened on Oct. 31, 2019. He stayed in Brazil for years. The legal fight over his case took a long time. Brazil finally handed him to the FBI on July 8 under an extradition deal. Agents then brought him to the US. He showed up in a Laredo courtroom just days later, on Monday.

Mamun now faces several human trafficking charges. A Justice Department official said he could get five to 15 years in prison. That would only happen if a jury finds him guilty. He has not been convicted. His case is still moving through court.

Court records say Mamun charged each migrant a steep price. The fee was between Tk 3 million and Tk 3.5 million. Tk stands for taka. Taka is the money used in Bangladesh. Families paid that price for one spot on the smuggling route.

The route was long and hard. Migrants first stayed at camps in Sao Paulo. Smugglers then moved them through several countries. They passed through South America. They passed through Central America too. The next stop was a camp in Tapachula, Mexico. People working for Mamun ran that camp. From there, migrants went to Monterrey. That is a Mexican city near the US border. The final step was the hardest part of the trip. Migrants had to swim across the Rio Grande. That is how they crossed into the United States.

Mukhtar Hossain and Milon Hossain worked with Mamun. Federal agents call them key members of the ring. Both men already pleaded guilty. A federal court in Texas gave each man 46 months in prison. A federal prosecutor said their guilty pleas cut their prison time. Their sentences are much shorter than what Mamun could face.

Investigators caught Milon and Mukhtar in Mexico. That is the last stop before the US border. The two men gave agents information. That information helped agents track Mamun down in Brazil.

Some migrants helped the case too. Officials say many Bangladeshis crossed into the US and got caught by border agents. Many of them later asked for asylum. Those migrants gave agents facts about the smugglers. Their words helped build the case against Mukhtar, Mamun and Milon.

The US Department of Justice runs a group called Joint Task Force Alpha. Agents call it JTFA for short. This task force hunts down smuggling rings. These rings often move migrants through many countries. So far, the FBI has arrested 464 people tied to this wider investigation. Most of them are from Bangladesh. Some are from other countries too. Of those 464 people, 414 already got prison time. Out of that group, 360 got long prison terms.

Mamun's case stays open in the Laredo federal court. He has not been convicted of any charge yet. Officials say they are still chasing other suspected members of the smuggling ring. Some of those suspects have not been caught.

The case is a reminder for South Texas. Laredo sits right on the border. Smuggling cases from all over the world often land in local federal courts. This one started nearly seven years ago in Brazil. It is only now reaching a Laredo courtroom. The next steps in Mamun's case will play out here in Texas.