POLICE FOIL PLAN TO SMUGGLE 66 BANGLADESHIS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MAPUTO 000449



SIPDIS



SIPDIS



AF/S - HTREGER, G/TIP - RYOUSEY, AF/RSA - MHARPOLE, INL/HSTC

- MGORELICK

STATE PASS USAID



SENSITIVE



E.O. 12958: N/A

TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, KWMN, SMIG, KFRD, ELAB, MZ

SUBJ: POLICE FOIL PLAN TO SMUGGLE 66 BANGLADESHIS



REF: 05 MAPUTO 0002



MAPUTO 00000449 001.2 OF 002





Sensitive But Unclassified - Handle Accordingly



1. (U) On April 8 Mozambican police detained a group of 66

Bangladeshi nationals attempting to enter Mozambique

illegally at the northern port of Nacala, having arrived by

ship from Madagascar. Every Bangladeshi had a Mozambican

visa pasted in his passport, evidently stolen from

Mozambique's embassy in Swaziland. The Bangladeshis were

sent back to Madagascar in the same vessel on April 15; the

GRM is holding the local organizer of the smuggling

operation for questioning. The foiled smuggling operation

highlights the relative ease of smuggling activity along

Mozambique's northern coast. End summary.



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66 Bangladeshis Land in Nacala

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2. (U) On Saturday, April 8, Mozambican police arrested a

group of 66 Bangladeshi nationals, including a six-year-old

child, attempting to clandestinely enter the country through

the Nacala port in Nampula province. Local fisherman and

community leaders alerted the police to the strange

activities of the "Karibo," a vessel sailing under the

Malagasy flag, from which groups of people were disembarking

in rowboats. The ship was seized by the Mozambican navy the

following day, and 13 Malagasy crew were taken into police

custody. Police informed reporters that the group had

traveled from Bangladesh to Madagascar, where they waited

four months before being transported to Mozambique. Law

enforcement interviews with some of the illegal immigrants

revealed that smugglers collected $4,000 per person, a price

tag that allegedly included a job and access to an

established South Asian support network in the Nampula area.



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Sent Back to Madagascar; Middleman detained

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3. (SBU) On April 15 the vessel was sent back to Madagascar,

carrying all 66 Bangladeshis aboard. A contact at the

Nacala port authority said Mozambican authorities wanted to

"get rid" of the Bangladeshis as quickly as possible, as

there was a critical lack of resources to house and feed

them. Earlier, on April 10, police arrested suspected

middleman and Bangladeshi citizen Abdul Satar Miah, who in

December 2004 was detained (but later released for lack of

evidence) for his alleged involvement in the smuggling of 34

Bangladeshi to Nampula from the Comoros Islands (see

reftel). Press reports over the weekend indicated that Miah

had been released and sent back with the Bangleshis.

However, in checking with Nacala immigration authorities,

Post learned that Miah remains under detention while police

continue to investigate. According to Ministry of Interior

officials, the police are looking into allegations that Miah

is part of an international smuggling ring with significant

ties to the South Asian community in Northern Mozambique and

Maputo province.



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Stolen Visas

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4. (SBU) All the Bangladeshi nationals had legitimate

Mozambican visas in their passports. A contact at

Immigration revealed that the visas were stolen from the

Mozambican High Commission in Swaziland several months ago.

The ship captain told police that he saw the visas being

pasted into the passports prior to the ship's arrival in

Nacala.



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Illegal Immigration a Problem Up North

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5. (U) The smuggling event has been front-and-center in the

written media over the past week and prompted a TVM-

organized debate on illegal immigration on April 13.

Callers were encouraged to telephone with comments during



MAPUTO 00000449 002 OF 002





the televised show. They complained of an influx of

"foreigners," whom they linked to drug trafficking and money

laundering. One caller in particular said that a new

"foreigner" in Nampula will be seen selling potatoes on the

street shortly after arriving, and the next month he'll have

a house with five cars in his garage. The Ministry of

Foreign Affairs official participating in the debate agreed

that the issue of illegal immigration should be closely

monitored, but did not respond to the suggestions of

nefarious activities going on in Nampula. Separately,

contacts in the Islamic community told Post the arrival of

the 66 Bangladeshis by ship suggests the rate of illegal

immigration by South Asian muslims could be far larger than

suspected. The Bangladeshis were discovered quite

accidentally and, lacking patrol boats, the GRM had no way

to monitor or intercept other arrivals by sea, he said.



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Comment

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6. (SBU) Since the end of the civil war in 1992, there has

been a noticeable increase in the number of South Asians in

northern Mozambique, particularly in urban centers such as

Nampula and Nacala. This incident raises questions about

smuggling and possible complicity by law enforcement

officials. Does the theft of the visas indicate corruption

linking consular officials and human smuggling syndicates?

And why would a smuggler go to the trouble of fraudulently

obtaining legitimate visas only to dump people off by

rowboat instead of going through a small airport with

relatively untrained and presumably easily bribed

immigration officers (such as Nampula or Pemba airports)?

Post will continue to follow this issue in the coming

months.