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Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam had escaped from an Ethiopian prison in 2021, before being sentenced in absentia to life in prison. He was arrested on January 1 in Sudan during an international police operation carried out with Interpol.
This Eritrean national was the subject of two Interpol red notices issued by Ethiopia and the Netherlands, in particular for migrant smuggling and human trafficking. Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam was the head of a criminal network that kidnapped and defrauded hundreds of East African migrants, migrants whose objective was to reach Europe.
In a statement, Interpol described him as ” a notorious smuggler, known for his particularly cruel and violent treatment of migrants “. The police organization says he was the most wanted criminal in the Netherlands, Ethiopia and several other countries. Apprehended for the first time in 2020 in Ethiopia, the man vanished a year later before being sentenced in absentia to life in prison. Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam was eventually located in Sudan thanks to the work carried out by the United Arab Emirates with the help of Interpol. To trace him, the Emirati authorities have focused in particular on the illegal financial transactions carried out by his brother. Interpol praised the crucial role played by the Emirati, Ethiopian, Dutch and Sudanese authorities in this investigation.