Nearly four years after he was indicted, a Bangladeshi man has been captured and extradited to the United States, where he will be prosecuted for allegedly masterminding an international child sexual exploitation enterprise that targeted minors using social media.
Zobaidul Amin allegedly “used computers and interactive computer services connected through the Internet to trick, extort, and persuade minors to produce sexually explicit images of themselves and send the images to [him] and others, and to transmit to [him] live visual depictions of the minors engaging in sexually explicit activity,” according to the federal indictment against him.
Amin, 28, appeared in an Anchorage, Alaska, court on Thursday, March 5, and entered not guilty pleas to conspiracy to produce child pornography, conspiracy to receive and distribute child pornography, child exploitation enterprise, production of child pornography, receipt of child pornography, cyberstalking, aggravated identity theft and wire fraud charges.
“As alleged in the indictment, Amin used social media applications including Instagram and Snapchat to identify and coerce [hundreds of] minor victims to produce images and videos of sexually explicit and sadistic conduct,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.
He allegedly adopted false identities — often posing as a teenager — to trick his victims into sending him explicit images. Amin was arrested in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he had been studying medicine.
“Amin delighted in sexually abusing hundreds of minor victims over social media,” reads a detention memorandum. “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.”
Federal investigators first learned of Amin after a 14-year-old Alaska girl reported her abuse to law enforcement. She said she stopped talking to Amin, and he made good on his threats, sending pornographic images of her to her friends and followers.
Investigators eventually learned his identity and realized he’d done the same thing to hundreds of minor victims. The only way the girls could quell his demands for more pictures was to recruit other victims, he allegedly told them.
“Because he was in Malaysia and his victims were primarily in the U.S., Amin viewed himself as untouchable by law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote. “In one conversation, he told a minor victim that the ‘cops won’t do anything,’ and the ‘cops won’t track me down because I live no where near u.’”
He will be held in custody until his trial, for which no date has been set.
“Yesterday’s return from Malaysia of a Bangladeshi national who allegedly abused and sexually exploited hundreds of minor victims worldwide is another successful example of the Administration’s increased efforts to find criminals hiding abroad,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “Together with our international partners and the U.S. Department of State, we are countering online child sexual exploitation, protecting our most vulnerable, and bringing these sick abusers to face justice on American soil.”
Parents, teachers, and guardians interested in learning more about protecting children from exploitation can find useful tools and information at Know2Protect.
If you suspect child abuse, please call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or visit ChildHelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential, and the hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
