Bangladeshi man flown to Alaska to face federal charges in ‘extensive’ child sexual exploitation case

A Bangladeshi man who authorities say operated an international child sexual exploitation enterprise involving hundreds of children, including those in Alaska, arrived in Anchorage this week after spending several years out on bail in Malaysia.

Zobaidul Amin, 28, made his first federal court appearance in Anchorage on Thursday.

A federal grand jury in Alaska indicted Amin in July 2022 on 13 charges related to the production and distribution of child pornography, cyberstalking and child exploitation. Law enforcement in Malaysia was prosecuting him on similar accusations.

Amin is accused of orchestrating a vast online sexual extortion ring that resulted in the abuse of minors, primarily from the United States.

“Amin delighted in sexually abusing hundreds of minor victims over social media,” prosecutors said in a memorandum filed Thursday recommending that a judge keep Amin jailed while awaiting trial. “He bragged about causing victims to become suicidal and engage in self-harm. He shared hundreds of nude images and videos of minor victims all over the internet and encouraged other perpetrators to do the same.”

The FBI arrested Amin on Wednesday in Malaysia and took him to Alaska, Anchorage FBI spokesperson Chloe Martin said in an emailed statement.

Amin pleaded not guilty at Thursday’s hearing.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Kyle Reardon assigned Amin a public defender and ordered that he remained jailed while his case proceeds.

Amin, wearing a yellow Anchorage Correctional Complex jumpsuit, quietly spoke only two words during the hearing: “Yes,” when Reardon asked whether he understood his rights, and “yes” after Reardon asked if Amin agreed to waive his right to a speedy trial to allow his attorney to adequately prepare.

For more than three years, federal officials sought to have Amin “expelled” from Malaysia, where he was a medical student, to face charges in the U.S., prosecutors said in their memorandum.

Authorities have said they uncovered the sophisticated child sexual abuse material production scheme after a 14-year-old girl told Alaska State Troopers in 2021 that Amin coerced her via social media into sending him lewd images of herself and participating in sexually explicit conduct over video calls.

When the girl stopped communicating with Amin, prosecutors said, he carried out previous threats to distribute the images to her friends and social media followers.

“Dozens of search warrants, subpoenas, and legal process revealed that Amin did the same thing to hundreds of minor victims,” prosecutors said in the detention memo, adding that it was one of the “most extensive” operations of its kind investigated by law enforcement.

But authorities had been unable to extradite Amin from Malaysia, they said.

Malaysian authorities, with help from U.S. law enforcement, also charged Amin for offenses related to the production and distribution of child sexual abuse images in 2022.

He was released from custody in Malaysia after his family paid a bail equivalent to $24,000, according to the detention memo.

The requirements of Amin’s release included that he surrender his passport, not contact his victims or engage in child sexual abuse image conduct, and report to police monthly, according to the memo.

Prosecutors said they were not aware of any violations but added that it was unclear how strictly the requirements were enforced.

Had Amin fled to Bangladesh, he would have been able to evade prosecution because the U.S. doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the South Asian country, according to the memo.

Officials didn’t publicly disclose additional details about the circumstances that led to his arrest and transfer to Alaska or why he hadn’t been moved to the U.S. sooner.

The FBI and U.S. Department of Justice have been working “in conjunction with Malaysian authorities” to get Amin transferred to U.S. custody, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska said in a prepared statement Thursday.

A child exploitation and human trafficking task force based out of the FBI’s Anchorage offices investigated the case with the support of numerous agencies, including the Anchorage Police Department and Alaska State Troopers, the Royal Malaysia Police, and a long list of law enforcement entities in Wyoming, Oregon, West Virginia and Florida as well as cities including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Newark, Salt Lake City and Seattle.