Interpol says 'world's most wanted' human trafficker arrested in Sudan

An Eritrean national described as the "world’s most wanted″ human trafficker has been arrested in Sudan after an international search led by the United Arab Emirates, Interpol has announced.

Migrants from sub-Saharan Africa sit in a makeshift boat in the Mediterranean Sea. Eritrean national Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam is believed to have smuggled and trafficked thousands of victims. AFP - FETHI BELAID

The suspect, identified as Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, is accused of leading a criminal organisation that abducts, extorts and murders East African migrants trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya, the France-based police agency said in an online statement.

Habtemariam was arrested on Sunday in a ″major international police operation led by the United Arab Emirates, based on information shared via Interpol,″ said a statement from the UAE’s Ministry of Interior.

He was "wanted for leading a criminal organization which over several years, kidnapped, mistreated and extorted East African migrants to smuggle them into Europe," according to the UAE.

Lt-Gen Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE's Minister of Interior, called the "global police operation led by the UAE" a "success". The operation lasted nine months and also involved Dutch, Ethiopian and Sudanese authorities.

Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam (‘Kidane’), an Eritrea national wanted for migrant smuggling, was arrested in Sudan on 5 January 2023. © Dutch police

A breakthrough in the hunt came after UAE authorities began closely tracking Habtemariam's organisation and members of his family, uncovering money laundering patterns that led them to Sudan, the agency said.

Interpol first began monitoring Habtemariam’s activities in 2019.

Camp in Libya

Habtemariam had been the subject of two Interpol red notices, one from Ethiopia and the other from the Netherlands, the agency said. Dutch authorities accused Habtemariam of running a camp in Libya that housed thousands of migrants.

According to a statment at the website of the Dutch police, Kidanes victims faced "extremely cruel treatment, abduction, rape and deprivation of freedom."

Dutch police estimates that "many did not survive the trip to Europe, and if [Kidane's] victims managed to reach the Netherlands, he would extort them into paying for the next familymember who was making his/her way to Europe."

Habtemariam was convicted in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment after escaping from custody in Ethiopia while on trial on people smuggling charges in 2020.

Migrants on a wooden boat are rescued by the Malta-based NGO Migrant Offshore Aid Station (MOAS) in the central Mediterranean in international waters off the coast of Sabratha in Libya, April 15, 2017. REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi/File Photo

Chaos

Libya has in recent years emerged as the dominant transit point for migrants seeking a better quality of life in Europe.

The oil-rich country plunged into chaos following a NATO-backed uprising that toppled and killed longtime autocrat Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.

Human traffickers have benefited from the chaos in Libya, smuggling migrants in across the country’s lengthy land borders with six nations.

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“Thanks to the professionalism and dedication of our police officers, the world’s most wanted human trafficker will no longer be able to commit his despicable actions,″ Saeed Abdullah al-Suwaidi, director of the UAE’s Federal Anti-Narcotics General Directorate, said in a separate statement cited by Interpol.

Sudanese police did not respond to requests for comment.

(with AP)