The World’s “Most Wanted Human Trafficker” Was Caught And Arrested By The UAE
The subject of two Interpol red notices, human smuggler and trafficker Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, was arrested in Sudan by a UAE-led police operation on 1 January 2023
With a history of having escaped from prison in 2021, Eritrean national Kidane was finally apprehended after a nine month major international operation organized by the UAE in cooperation with Interpol and the Sudanese Police.
While Kidane was caught in Sudan, his brother, Henok Zekarias, who was involved in running money laundering operations in the UAE, was arrested alongside his network of criminals.
According to the National, after carrying out investigations of the gang’s activities, Dutch authorities put Kidane on their most wanted list for “abusing, extorting, kidnapping and raping” Eritreans who wanted to reach the Netherlands.
Kingpin Kidane led a criminal organization that held thousands of African refugees and migrants looking for safe passage to Europe in warehouses in Libya where they were “extorted, tortured, raped, and killed”.
نجاح لعملية شرطية عالمية دامت 9 أشهر بقيادة الإمارات وبالشراكة مع الإنتربول، أسفرت عن إلقاء القبض على المطلوبين دولياً وللإمارات، كيداني زكرياس الهارب من السجن من أحد الدول وزعيم منظمة إجرامية للاتجار بالبشر و أخيه هينوك زكرياس المطلوب بتهمة غسل الأموال.
أشكر جميع الشركاء. pic.twitter.com/18ZUTAGqNU— سيف بن زايد آل نهيان (@SaifBZayed) January 5, 2023
The Interpol Executive Director Of Police Services, Stephen Kavanagh, thanked the UAE authorities for their “support and swift action” as well as Sudan, Ethiopia, and the Netherlands for playing a crucial role in the success of the mission
Just finished an international press conference with Ethiopian Police, Royal Netherlands Maréchaussée and UAE on the arrest of a significant and dangerous human trafficker Kidane Zekaria Habtemariam. When the world comes together there is nowhere such criminals can hide. pic.twitter.com/M79nqQmgRT
— Stephen Kavanagh (@SJKavanaghQPM) January 5, 2023
