Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents arrested 20 more illegal immigrants from Bangladesh–a country with known ties to terrorism. Laredo Sector agents arrested nearly 520 Bangladeshi nationals since the beginning of Fiscal Year 2018 last October.

Agents patrolling the border near the Santa Rita subdivision in Laredo on August 11 came across three people they suspected had illegally crossed the border from Mexico, according to Laredo Sector officials. During an interview, the agents learned the three people were illegally present in the U.S. and were smuggled through an international pipeline from their home country through Mexico. Mexican cartels then smuggled them into Laredo by helping them cross the Rio Grande River border.

The Santa Rita subdivision is located south of Laredo and is an area with no border walls or fences to deter illegal crossings. It is an area where cartel-connected smugglers are known to frequently cross their loads of drugs and human cargo.

Later that evening, agents found another group of four who they suspected had just crossed the river border near the neighboring Santa Fe subdivision. Agents conducted an immigration interview and learned they were also from Bangladesh.

On August 10, agents found another group of five who appeared to have illegally crossed near the Santa Rita subdivision. A short time later, agents found another group of five. The agents interviewed the 10 subjects and determined that they were all from Bangladesh.

Laredo Sector agents arrested three additional Bangladeshi nationals one day earlier after they observed the suspected illegal immigrants jumping a fence into an import/export lot. An interview confirmed their nationalities as Bangladeshi.

Since October 1, 2017, Laredo Sector agents have arrested nearly 520 “Special Interest Aliens” from Bangladesh–more than all of the other Border Patrol sectors combined. The number increased more than 180 percent compared to FY2017’s total of 181.

Laredo Sector officials told Breitbart Texas that nearly all of the Bangladeshi nationals arrested this year are young men between the ages of 18 and 35. They explained that the Bangladeshi nationals pay the cartels up to $27,000 each for passage to the U.S.

Bangladesh is described by many as a hotbed of terrorist activity. In March 2017, the British government issued a travel advisory for Bangladesh to its citizens warning of potential terror attacks. The warning cited several incidents of terrorist activity in the months leading up to the travel advisory’s issuance.

In 2016, CNN and The Economist spotlighted terrorist activity in Bangladesh. And, in February 2017, the Tony Blair’s Institute for Global Change wrote, “Bangladesh is alternately heralded as a beacon of tolerance and secularism in the Muslim-majority world or a hotbed of Islamist militancy.”

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.