Ethiopian federal police say they have arrested an alleged human-trafficking kingpin and nine accomplices accused of running a brutal cross-border network that smuggled more than 3,000 people toward Libya, where many victims were allegedly tortured, raped, held for ransom and, in some cases, killed. Police said the investigation began in 2018 and focused on a ring that recruited young people from Ethiopia, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia who hoped to reach Europe through Libya.
According to Ethiopian police, the network operated five warehouses in Libya where victims were held hostage while their families were pressured to pay large ransoms. Authorities said those unable to pay were subjected to severe abuse, including beatings, whipping with rubber or electric cables, chaining of hands and feet, starvation and, in some cases, burning with heated plastic bottles. Police also said women were raped and that many victims died under torture.
In the strongest allegation released by investigators, police said the suspects were involved in trafficking more than 3,000 people, killing over 100 and raping more than 50 women. Ethiopian authorities published mugshots of the suspects and identified the alleged ringleader as Yetbarek Dawit, also known as Kibrom, according to Ethiopian media and official reporting. Investigators said the criminal operation moved about $20 million through its trafficking activities.
The investigation was supported by Project ROCK, an INTERPOL initiative funded by the European Union that helps police forces in the Horn of Africa dismantle trafficking and migrant-smuggling networks through intelligence-sharing, transnational operations and investigative support. Ethiopian police said they interviewed more than 100 victims and family members during the probe and that the case also exposed more than 70 major traffickers operating in Ethiopia and abroad.
The case shines a harsh light on one of the deadliest migration corridors linking the Horn of Africa to North Africa and Europe. INTERPOL says trafficking and migrant-smuggling networks in the region routinely exploit displaced and vulnerable people with extortion, torture, sexual violence and forced labour, making cross-border police cooperation essential. The Ethiopian arrests are therefore significant not only because of the scale of the alleged crimes, but also because they suggest investigators may now be moving beyond local recruiters toward dismantling a wider regional network.
