| SDNY Catfish
Case Features Burmese Fish in Queens EDNY
Warehouse 2 Defendants Freed
By Matthew
Russell Lee, Patreon
BBC
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SDNY COURTHOUSE,
Feb 18 – When the US
Attorney's Office for the
Southern District of New York
announced on February 18
arrests and presentments for
illegal importation of
catfish, two things were not
emphasized: some of the fish
was from coup-wracked Burma
(called Myanmar in the
Complaint), and the importer
was based in Maspeth in the
Eastern District.
From the complaint:
"Out of these 145 maritime
shipments, the seller of
record for the goods imported
was located in Myanmar for at
least 32 shipments, and in
Bangladesh for at least 87
shipments. Out of the 32
shipments of goods whose
origin was Myanmar: (i) for at
least 14 shipments that
arrived at the Port of New
York/Newark between on or
about March 28, 2018 and on or
about August 13, 2019, a
foreign trading company, which
is located in Myanmar and
which is discussed in ¶¶
9.a and 9.c infra (“Foreign
Trading Company- 1”), was
listed as the seller of
record; and (ii) for at
least two shipments that
arrived at the Port New
York/Newark between on or
about August 20, 2018 and
August 5, 2019, a foreign
trading company, which is
located in Myanmar."
SDNY
announced "charging MAHMUD
CHOWDHURY, a/k/a “Masum
Chowdhury,” a/k/a “Uncle
Masum,” SHAKIL AHMED, BELAYET
HUSSAIN, a/k/a “Belayet
Sohel,” and FIROZ AHAMMAD with
participating in a conspiracy
to smuggle banned catfish into
the United States through the
Southern District of New
York. All four
defendants were taken into
custody today and will be
presented this afternoon
before United States
Magistrate Judge Katharine H.
Parker.
As alleged in the
Complaint unsealed today in
Manhattan federal
court[1]: Since in
or about 2017, the importation
into the United States from
most countries of fish of the
order Siluriformes, which
includes multiple species of
fish commonly referred to as
catfish, has been prohibited
by federal law, in order to
ensure the safety of food for
human consumption in the
United States. From at
least in or about January 2018
up to and including at least
in or about October 2019,
notwithstanding this ban,
MAHMUD CHOWDHURY, a/k/a “Masum
Chowdhury,” a/k/a “Uncle
Masum,” SHAKIL AHMED, BELAYET
HUSSAIN, a/k/a “Belayet
Sohel,” and FIROZ AHAMMAD, the
principals of Asia Foods
Distributor Inc. (“AFD”), a
trading company based in New
York City" - in Maspeth. The
venue hook is passing through
the waters of the SDNY.
Magistrate
Judge Parker released two
presentees, one for $100,000
bond, the other for $500,000.
The case is us v.
Chwdhury, et al., 21-mj-1841
(Parker)
***
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