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Extradition to Ethiopia
Ethiopian Federal Police extradited an alleged human trafficking kingpin, Adnew Bashaw, from Malawi to face trial in Ethiopia after a joint international operation involving Interpol and Malawian law enforcement.
“Ethiopian Federal Police (EFP) extradited an alleged human trafficking kingpin from Malawi”
The Ethiopian Federal Police said Bashaw was arrested in Malawi and transferred to Ethiopian custody on July 29, 2026, where he will face trial over allegations of orchestrating a large-scale trafficking network exploiting vulnerable Ethiopian migrants through fraud, extortion, torture, and forced smuggling routes toward South Africa.
Investigators compiled evidence including witness testimonies and documentary records, and the police said the network targeted young people in the Central Ethiopia Regional State, particularly in the Hadiya and Kembata zones.
The Ethiopian Federal Police said the syndicate extorted between 600,000 and 800,000 Birr per victim and required an upfront non-refundable deposit of at least 100,000 Birr transferred through local bank accounts prior to departure.
The Ethiopian Federal Police urged the public to maintain active vigilance and report suspicious activities via the EFPApp, emergency line 991, or the SPS platform.
Digital scams and arrests
A separate set of reporting tied trafficking to online fraud, with Laodong.vn saying that during the first six months of the year, 323 suspects were prosecuted in connection with human trafficking.
Laodong.vn reported that the Vietnam Women’s Union, in coordination with the Khánh Hòa Province Women’s Union, organized a forum on July 28 under the theme "Trapped by Fraud Traps" as part of activities responding to the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and the National Day Against Trafficking in Persons (July 30).
The article said UNODC reported that online fraud activities in East Asia and Southeast Asia caused damages of between 18 and 37 billion dollars in 2023, and it linked most cases to transnational criminal networks, forced labor, and human trafficking.
In Vietnam, Laodong.vn said individuals increasingly used social networks to publish false recruitment advertisements promising "light work, high salaries," luring victims to travel to Cambodia, Myanmar, in the Golden Triangle region (Laos) and other countries.
It also reported that in Khanh Hoa Province, from July 1, 2025 to today, provincial police investigated and clarified one human trafficking case, prosecuted 14 suspects, and rescued 20 victims.
Global scale and consequences
El Mundo framed trafficking as a transnational crime that continues to expand, describing how deception recruits victims through mechanisms like "a friend request on social networks" and "a fake job offer".
“"Right now the most important entry countries into Spain are Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru,"”
The article quoted Rocío Mora, executive director of APRAMP, saying, "Right now the most important entry countries into Spain are Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Paraguay, and Peru," and it added that last year APRAMP reached more than 7,037 people through mobile units.
El Mundo also cited Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative (CTDC) data, saying the database records more than 230,470 individual cases in 199 countries of exploitation, covering 192 nationalities.
In the same reporting, UNICEF was quoted as noting that one in four trafficking victims detected worldwide is under 18, while Mora said, "40% of the people we assist say they began to be exploited when they were still underage."
El Mundo described how victims can be trapped in debt and forced into daily payments, including Tatiana’s account that she was forced to pay a minimum of 50 euros a day and that she remembered accumulating a debt of up to 5,000 euros.