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.