Trial begins for Eritrean man accused of leading brutal migrant smuggling network

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Published Nov 25, 2025

A Dutch court opened a trial Monday of an Eritrean man accused of involvement in a brutal migrant smuggling network.

Prosecutors say Tewelde Goitom, also known as Amanuel Walid, ran an operation bringing East African migrants to Europe under horrific conditions, demanding huge sums of money from their relatives to free them from camps in Libya.

The accused, wearing jeans and a blue puffer jacket, said that he is the victim of mistaken identity.

He was extradited to the Netherlands in 2022 from Ethiopia, where he was convicted of similar crimes.

"I am still the one I said I was earlier," he said when asked to introduce himself, speaking via an interpreter.

The trial is one of the largest human smuggling cases ever brought in the Netherlands, prosecutors said. It will continue for the next three weeks.

The trial has been delayed by the lengthy extradition process of another man, Kidane Zekarias Habtemariam, who escaped during the trial in Ethiopia in 2020.

Habtemariam is currently being held in the United Arab Emirates but will be extradited to the Netherlands.

Prosecutors want to join the two cases, while the defense hopes that Habtemariam can provide evidence of Goitom's innocence.