Ethiopian Authorities Arrested a Human Trafficking Organization Accountable for 3,000 Victims

Ethiopian police said they detained a “dangerous international human trafficker” and nine accomplices accused of shipping more than 3,000 people to Libya, where they were held hostage and, in some cases, tortured, raped, or murdered.

The human trafficking network has been under investigation since 2018, according to a statement released on Facebook on Tuesday. It recruited young people from Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya, and Somalia who wanted to move to Europe via Libya.

The ring managed five warehouses in Libya, holding hostages and demanding their families to pay exorbitant ransoms. Those who couldn’t pay were given only one meager meal per day, flogged, whipped with rubber or electric cables, and shackled hands and feet, according to authorities.

Victims were burned with plastic water bottles, women were raped, and many perished from torture.They illegally trafficked over 3,000 individuals, killed over 100, and raped more than 50 women, according to the police statement. Police have released mugshots of the seven men and three women arrested in connection with the criminal network.

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