Addis Ababa: For Forum of the Horn Vision,

Date: April 10, 2026,

Ethiopian federal authorities have revealed the arrest of a dangerous international smuggler and nine of his associates for their involvement in the forced detention and systematic torture of nearly 3,000 people on smuggling routes spanning several African countries.

Ethiopian authorities reported that some of the detainees were subjected to brutal torture and sexual assault, and confirmed that smugglers confessed during the investigation to killing and disposing of some people unable to pay. They owe them money for smuggling.

In recent days, Agence France-Presse ( AFP ) reported that it had obtained a copy of an investigation document issued by the Ethiopian Federal Police, which included details of the trafficking by smuggling operation of this gang, and the circumstances of the arrest of ten members suspected of working within an international human trafficking network in the Ethiopian town of Shire, located in the northern Tigray region near the borders with Eritrea and Sudan. According to the agency, three of the members were women.

According to the published document, “the arrested individuals were transferred to the capital, Addis Ababa, on April 6. They are scheduled to be tried in Addis Ababa, or the trial proceedings may be transferred to another jurisdiction that has arrest warrants against them, and some of them may be transferred through diplomatic and security authorities to other countries in the context of joint security cooperation in accordance with international laws and customs.

The leaked investigations revealed that the gang has been active for a decade, luring many young people of Ethiopian, Sudanese, Djiboutian, Eritrean, Somali and Kenyan nationalities, taking them to Libya under the pretext of getting them to Europe. Once the migrants arrive in Libya, they are held hostage in remote warehouses by members of the smuggling network.

According to data from the Federal Police, the network in turn extorts large sums of money from their families in exchange for their release after torture.

Federal security officials added that members of the smuggling network who were apprehended confessed to nearly three thousand people over ten years being subjected to forced detention, torture, extortion, and exploitation of their families under the guise of “ransom,” in addition to the murder of more than 100 people and the rape of dozens of women.

According to confessions, these criminal activities related to the human trafficking network generated millions of dollars in revenue during this period of years.

Based on the confessions of the arrested individuals, security and judicial procedures have begun to freeze the funds deposited in bank accounts by the arrested network leader and his members, and to work on tracking and confiscating the gang’s assets.

With thousands of people displaced from the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia during the civil war, migration remains a sensitive and major issue.