Monitoring Desk
DUBAI: A top United Arab Emirates (UAE) official announced on Sunday that Kidane Habtemariam, an Eritrean citizen wanted for human trafficking and migrant smuggling was arrested in Sudan. The announcement was made by UAE Interior Minister Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan on Twitter.
According to Arab news, based on information shared by INTERPOL’s Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants unit in 2021, the United Arab Emirates launched a probe into Habtemariam’s network. The newspaper added that as a result of the illegal financial transactions discovered by UAE law enforcement agencies were able to capture Habtemariam in Sudan. The arrest was a part of a 9-month police operation led by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in cooperation with INTERPOL, the paper added.
UAE led operation
Habtemariam was one of the most wanted human traffickers at the time of his arrest. He is Eritrean citizen and is the alleged head of a criminal network that has abused, kidnapped and extorted migrants in East Africa to smuggle them into European countries. Habtemariam is believed to have trafficked and smuggled thousands of victims in several years. United Arab Emarate Anti-Narcotics Director-General Saeed Abdullah Al-Suwaidi said that trafficking humans is a horrific crime, and they have shut down one of the most key trafficking routes into European countries, which illegally sent thousands of migrants from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia via Libya and into Europe.
