The United Arab Emirates announced on Thursday, January 5, that it had arrested Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam in Sudan, the “most wanted human trafficker in the world,” during an international police operation carried out with Interpol.
He is presented as “one of the cruelest smugglers in the world.” Habtemariam headed a notorious Libya-based human trafficking ring responsible for the murder, torture, rape, and extortion of thousands of African migrants wishing to go to Europe.
Kidane’s criminal enterprise might have made tens of thousands of victims since beginning operations in or around 2014, exploiting the desperation of Eritrean, Ethiopian, and Somali nationals eager to flee their homelands.
UAE: “We have put an end to one of the most important routes of human trafficking to Europe, which affected thousands of migrants from Eritrea, Somalia, and Sudan, via Libya to Europe.”
Source: RAIR