British police have been warned that
Africans in the UK are being targeted for extortion by foreign gangs, the
Telegraph can disclose.
Europol, the European crime intelligence agency, has said that families are
being forced to pay tens of thousands of pounds to free relatives who have been
kidnapped.
Officials warned that criminal gangs are demanding £20,000 from European
“contacts” of African immigrants for the hostage to be released.
Rob Wainwright, the Director of Europol, said that the organisation “has issued
a warning to all police forces in Europe that this form of international
extortion may also be happening in their areas”.
“In response to any increase in cases reported to national competent
authorities in Europe, the centralised analysis of this data at Europol would
enable the detection of cross-border links between different cash handlers.
The Telegraph has spoken to one man in
Birmingham who paid more than $35,000 (£20,917) for his sister to be released.
The man, who works as a taxi driver in
Birmingham, asked for his surname to be withheld because he is concerned that
the gangs may target other family members in his home country.
“I paid the money to save her life”, said
Dawit. “I sold all that I could and borrowed from family and friends.
“The main thing is that she is safe and
alive, but because she was tortured. She begged me to save her life. It was the
worst thing in the world”.
They said that “the extortion operations
were run by organised crime groups (OCGs) of Bedouin origin exploiting
irregular migrants who had been kidnapped in Eritrea and Sudan by OCGs of
Rashaida origin.
Europol said that they are aware of cases
where family members and friends have paid between 4400 euros (£3623) to 25,700
euros (£21,161) to free hostages.
Soren Pederson, from Europol said, “In most
cases, the extortion processes involved multiple negotiation steps and
sequential increases in the ransom amount.
“Payments were made to multiple cash handlers
used by organised criminal groups in locations inside and outside of Europe.”
Amnesty International said that it has
received “numerous reports” of refugees and asylum seekers being held captive
in the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.
Amnesty said that the information they had
“indicates that there is an extensive network of criminal groups which include
smugglers and traffickers operating through Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt.
“They are reportedly heavily-armed…The
networks include agents that collect the ransom money in countries including
Israel, Saudi Arabia, the US, and throughout Europe”.
When Dawit’s sister was kidnapped as she
walked to work in Eritrea last July, he reported the incident to police in the
UK, but was told they were unable to help because she was not a British
citizen.
The gang holding his sister called their
mother and demanded $10,000 (£5975) was paid to them within two days.
If they did not receive the payment, the
gang said she would be taken to Sinai and it would cost $35,000 (£20,917) for
her release.
“So then men took my sister to Sinai, where
they made her call my family. They beat her and she was crying on the phone.
She begged us to save her life.
“The main thing is that she is safe and
alive, but she has lost her hearing in one hear because of the beatings and
also has a bad infection.”
Dawit’s sister is now in Ethiopia and the
family are trying to raise enough money to get her back to her children in
Eritrea.
By Claire Newell, and Holly Watt
Europol, the European crime intelligence agency, has said that families are being forced to pay tens of thousands of pounds to free relatives who have been kidnapped.
“In response to any increase in cases reported to national competent authorities in Europe, the centralised analysis of this data at Europol would enable the detection of cross-border links between different cash handlers.
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