An Indian student, Bilal Kazi, 27, has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United Kingdom for sexually exploiting children through social media and online gaming platforms. He was sentenced at Chester Crown Court in north-west England on Friday after admitting to several offences related to online child sexual abuse. Cheshire Constabulary described it as one of the largest investigations into online child sexual abuse.

Pretended To Be A Teenage Boy

According to authorities, Kazi contacted girls aged between 10 and 15 through platforms such as Snapchat, Roblox and Wink. He used the fake name "Reece"and presented himself as a white British teenage boy. He also used photographs of an unidentified boy to make his false identity appear genuine.

After gaining the trusts of girls, Kazi turned their conversations towards sexual topics and pressured them into performing sexual acts and sharing explicit content. When some girls refused to follow his demands, he threatened to share their photographs and videos with others. Martin McRobb, Specialist Prosecutor at the UK’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said, "Bilal Kazi acted with absolute ruthlessness in grooming, manipulating and exploiting a large number of young vulnerable girls."

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Girls Suffered Trauma

He added that Kazi made several victims believe they were in genuine relationships with him. When they discovered his real identity, many also suffered emotional distress and long-term trauma. One victim started speaking to Kazi on Snapchat when she was 13. She believed he was also a teenager and their conversation turned sexual.

In July 2021, the girl told him that she wanted to remain friends and would stop sending pictures. Kazi then verbally abused her and claimed that she belonged to him. He also threatened to share the pictures and videos she had already sent with her friends. Afraid of his act, the girl continued sending him images and videos. Later, her Snapchat account was hacked, and the material was shared with her friends. She reported the incident to Derbyshire Police in November 2021.

70 Victims Identified

The investigation was later handled by the Cheshire Constabulary after police found that Kazi's last known address was in Chester. He had left the UK but was arrested at Heathrow Airport in July 2023. Investigators recovered information from his device and found 180 potential victims. The officers managed to identify 70 victims, who were aged between 11 and 17 at the time of the offences. They were located across 28 of the UK's 45 police forces.

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