Sudan: Interpol has announced that “the world’s most wanted” people smuggler, Mr. Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam has been arrested in Sudan in coordination with UAE authorities.

Mr. Habtemariam has been accused of being a smuggling kingpin, running a camp in Libya where hundreds of East African migrants seeking passage to Europe were allegedly kidnapped, raped, and extorted.

According to UAE interior ministry official Mr. Saeed Abdullah al-Suwaidi, the people smuggler, who was the subject of two Interpol red notices by Ethiopia and the Netherlands, was arrested on January 1 by Sudanese police in coordination with UAE authorities.

“We have now shut down one of the most important trafficking routes into Europe, which illegally moved thousands of migrants from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan, through Libya into Europe,” Al-Suwaidi remarked in a statement.

The ministry official added that “Habtemariam’s arrest followed a joint UAE and Interpol investigation, beginning last year, that tracked illicit financial transactions made by his brother.”

According to Mr. Stephen Kavanagh, Interpol’s executive director of police services, the people smuggler was traced through biometrics because he was crossing borders and “using air travel to go long distances” with fake documents. Habtemariam’s brother was also arrested, and other family members were investigated.

The executive director remarked that “this is a testament to the INTERPOL network and what can be achieved when countries work together. In today’s world, it is quite simply the only way to stop criminals whose repeated cruelty strips people of their dignity.

“More than ever, we are committed to identifying all of the members of this smuggling ring, and any others that viciously exploit people seeking a better life,” Mr. Kavanagh further added.

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