A 28-year-old Bangladeshi man has been accused in the United States of sexually exploiting children. He allegedly used social media to trick teenage girls into sending him sexually explicit images, then threatened to share them with their friends and family unless they sent more.
He adopted a false identity, often posing as a teenager, to trick victims into sending him explicit images, the Associated Press (AP) reported, citing US prosecutors.
The defendant, Zobaidul Amin, who studied medicine in Malaysia, was flown from Kuala Lumpur to Alaska to face federal charges. He pleaded not guilty during his first court appearance.
“The FBI’s commitment to protecting our children from exploitation does not change whether the perpetrator is here in the United States or overseas,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a news release.
He “boasted” about causing mental harm
In a detention memorandum, US prosecutors said Amin took pleasure in sexually abusing hundreds of underage victims through social media. “He bragged about causing victims to become suicidal and engage in self-harm.
Prosecutors said Amin shared hundreds of nude images and videos of minor victims across the Internet and encouraged other perpetrators to do the same.
How was Zobaidul Amin caught?
- A 14-year-old girl from Alaska first reported Amin to law enforcement, prompting an investigation.
- In her abuse report, the minor claimed that after she stopped communicating with Amin, he followed through on his threats by sending pornographic images of her to her friends and followers.
- In 2022, a federal grand jury indicted Amin on charges including child pornography, cyberstalking, and wire fraud.
- U.S. prosecutors said in an arrest memo that the accused adopted false identities, often posing as teenagers, to get victims to send him explicit images.
- While executing dozens of search warrants and subpoenas, investigators eventually learned his identity and realized he had done similar things to hundreds of underage victims, prosecutors said.
- According to prosecutors, Amin told his victims that the only way to get him to stop demanding more pictures was to recruit more victims.
- “Because he was in Malaysia and his victims were primarily in the US, Amin considered himself untouchable by law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote.
- “In one interview, he told the juvenile victim that ‘the cops won’t do anything’ and ‘the cops won’t track me down because I don’t live anywhere near you.’
Amin’s edition
Efforts to extradite Amin to face charges failed, but with the help of the FBI, Malaysian authorities filed charges, the Justice Department said.
He was released on bail during the proceedings, and the United States eventually succeeded in obtaining his deportation from Malaysia. The FBI took him into custody and flew him to Alaska.
