An Eritrean human trafficker, Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, who headed a notorious Libya-based trafficking gang has been arrested in Sudan, according to a statement issued by Interpol on Thursday.
His gang held thousands of African refugees and migrants bound for Europe in warehouses in Libya, and extorted thousands of dollars from them and their families, Reuters reported in June.
He was picked up on New Year’s Day, in a multinational police operation, overseen by the United Arab Emirates. Kidane had been on the run since his February 2021 escape from a courthouse in Ethiopia, where he spent a year behind bars.
Brigadier Saeed Abdullah Al-Suwaidi, Director General of the UAE’s Federal Anti-Narcotics Department stated that Kidane’s criminal enterprise “had been neutralized.”
According to the statement by Interpol who issued a red notice, Emirati police managed to discover his whereabouts by extensively investigating his network’s money laundering operations.
“It is a testament to the Interpol network, and what can be achieved when countries work together,” explained Stephen Kavanagh, Executive Director of Interpol Police Services.
Pursued by authorities on either side of the Mediterranean for years, Kidane took advantage of the lawlessness that wracked Libya after the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011. He established himself as a kingpin among competing human trafficking bosses in North Africa.
Many West African migrants use Libya to cross the Mediterranean, in hopes of a better life in Europe.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) said that 20,842 migrants were rescued and returned to Libya in 2022 after they attempted to migrate across the Mediterranean.
In a report, the IOM confirmed that 678 children and 1,089 women were among the surviving migrants, while 514 people died, and 865 migrants went missing in the same year.
The IOM announced earlier that it had intercepted 235 migrants across the Mediterranean between November 13th and 19th. The migrants were returned to Libya with the help of the Libyan Coast Guard. 
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