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According to researchers, the most wanted human trafficker in the world is back in prison after more than two years on the run. Eritrean Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam was arrested on Sunday during a police operation conducted by several states in cooperation with Interpol in Sudan, Said Abdullah al-Suwaidi, a senior official at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) interior ministry, said on Thursday.

Habtemariam is the mastermind of a criminal network that has kidnapped and defrauded hundreds of East African migrants trying to travel to Europe, according to a joint statement from the UAE’s interior ministry and Interpol.

Accordingly, there were two Interpol alerts against him – namely requests for arrest or provisional arrest for extradition purposes. “We stopped one of the main human trafficking routes into Europe, which led thousands of migrants from Eritrea, Somalia and Sudan to Europe via Libya,” UAE Interior Ministry spokesman al-Suwaidi said, according to the statement.

Escaped from prison

Habtemariam was arrested in Ethiopia in 2020, but escaped from prison a year later. He was later sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia there, according to the statement by the UAE Ministry of Interior and Interpol.

Stephen Kavanagh, executive director of Interpol’s police services, confirmed that Habtemariam is the “most wanted” criminal in the Netherlands, Ethiopia, but also in several other countries. According to Interpol, he has been on the radar of the international police organization since 2019. He has a reputation for being “particularly cruel and violent towards migrants”.

cash flows examined

With the support of Interpol, the Emirates investigated the Habtemariams criminal network and its money flows. According to the representative of the UAE Ministry of Interior, this enabled the suspected smuggler to be located in Sudan, where he was arrested on January 1 by local police officers in cooperation with UAE authorities.

The arrest is “a positive example for the Interpol network” and “of what can be achieved when countries work together,” said Kavanagh, Interpol’s executive director.

Habtemariam is now on trial in the UAE for money laundering. Authorities would consider extradition once the case was over, al-Suwaidi said. The arrest of the Eritrean is “only the beginning” of the hunt for the rest of Habtemariam’s network. The UAE is currently exploring with Interpol the possibility of opening an investigation into another major suspected trafficker. (sda/afp)