Joint Regional Law Enforcement Operation Ends Years Long Human Trafficking Schemes
ADDIS ABABA – The Ethiopian Federal Police (EFP) has extradited an Ethiopian national accused of operating a brutal transnational human trafficking network from Malawi following a coordinated international law enforcement effort. The operation, conducted in partnership with Interpol and the Malawi Police, marks the second major international extradition announced by Ethiopian authorities in less than two weeks.
The suspect, Adnew Bashaw Wudamo, was apprehended in Malawi after years of joint investigations and was officially handed over to Ethiopian authorities on July 29 to face criminal prosecution. According to federal investigators, Adnew had been under active investigation since 2022/23 for allegedly trafficking young Ethiopians from the Central Ethiopia Regional State specifically from the Hadiya and Kembata zones toward South Africa through an extensive smuggling network grounded in deception, coercion, and extortion.
Addressing the specifics of the operation, Jeylan Abdi, Head of Public Relations and Communication Affairs at the Ethiopian Federal Police Commission, confirmed that the multi-agency investigation involved the Regional Operational Centre in support of the Khartoum Process and the African Union–Horn of Africa Initiative (ROCK), Alongside Interpol and Malawian authorities.
Federal police allege that the smuggling network lured victims with false promises of employment and enhanced living conditions in South Africa, charging each migrant between 600,000 and 800,000 birr while requiring advance payments of at least 100,000 birr within Ethiopia prior to departure.
Investigators detailed widespread physical abuse and severe extortion throughout the migratory journey. Victims were initially smuggled across the border into Kenya through Moyale and held in the Gambo forest under severe conditions, receiving minimal rations of bread and rice once every 24 hours before being forced to traverse desert terrain on foot and by motorcycle.
Upon arrival in Nairobi, migrants were allegedly confined in overcrowded safehouses where they were beaten, threatened, and tortured to extort additional funds from their families back home.
Police reports indicate that families unable to meet ransom demands were subjected to extreme intimidation through physical violence inflicted on their captive relatives, including beatings and electric shocks, while local accomplices in Ethiopia collected forced payments exceeding 100,000 birr.Â
Migrants were subsequently transported in freight containers, trailers, and canvas-covered trucks from Nairobi toward Tanzania, where many were abandoned in remote forests. Numerous victims were arrested by transit country authorities for illegal entry, facing prison sentences of up to three years and fines reaching 170,000 birr prior to deportation.
This latest extradition reflects a broader, intensified campaign by the Ethiopian Federal Police against transnational organized crime. On July 17, the EFP completed the extradition of two Ethiopian nationals, Dawud Teferi Legesse and Desta Tegegne Abegaz, from the United Arab Emirates in coordination with Dubai Police. That network allegedly trafficked 105 Ethiopians to Dubai, illicitly generating over 188 million birr while subjecting victims to severe physical abuse.
Additionally, on July 21, police referred a case involving 17 suspected members of a transnational network to the Ministry of Justice, alleging the group trafficked over 40,000 Ethiopians to Saudi Arabia through Djibouti and Yemen, accruing over one billion birr and leaving more than 60 migrants dead along the corridor.
Ethiopia remains a primary country of origin for mixed-migration movements across the region. Recent assessments by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) highlight that ongoing insecurity, economic hardships, and limited protection mechanisms continue to drive thousands of young adults along dangerous corridors, where organized trafficking networks routinely subject migrants to extreme exploitation, violence, and financial extortions. Federal authorities have urged the public to report suspected trafficking operations through dedicated state reporting platforms and hotline channels.
