ADDIS ABABA — Ethiopian federal police on Tuesday announced the arrest of 17 individuals who were allegedly involved in a multi-million-dollar international human trafficking network.The suspects, allegedly led by a trafficking kingpin named Mohamed Tahir Aden, aka “Wordi”,extorted money from the victims’ relatives and were linked to the deaths of over 60 migrants.In addition to committing serious crimes, including sexual violence against several women, police also accused the trafficking group of collecting more than 1 billion birr (about $6.19 million) from victims in the process.Tahir and his co-accused have yet to appear in court or comment on the allegations.Their photos were released by police on Tuesday, and posted to the force’s Facebook page.The alleged traffickers are accused of transporting more than 40,000 Ethiopians abroad through Djibouti and Yemen.The ring is alleged to have operated detention warehouses in Yemen, a nation with scant rule of law after being devastated by civil war. It remains one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, according to Human Rights Watch.It is here that they allegedly filmed migrants while torturing them as a way to extort money from their terrified relatives back home.Police spokesperson Jeylan Abdi told BBC News that the suspects were arrested in the capital, Addis Ababa, and the eastern city of Harar, in a 15-day operation.Ethiopian Federal Police and justice ministry have declined to give further details about the operation, including any information of how the 17 suspects have pleaded.Following their arrests, investigators submitted the case file to the justice ministry, supported by witness statements, according to police.The Ethiopian government has recently intensified its efforts to crack down on human traffickers.In April, police arrested another ring accused of luring thousands of people to Libya, where they had hoped to travel on to Europe. The police spokesperson said that case was now the courts.
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