A 27-year-old Indian student described by UK authorities as a "serial online groomer" was sentenced to 30 years' imprisonment in north-west England for "exploiting and coercing" several children online to commit sexual acts.
Bilal Kazi was sentenced at Chester Crown Court after pleading guilty to a series of child sexual abuse offences committed online. The court heard that Kazi pretended to be a teenage boy on social media and gaming platforms to build trust with girls aged between 10 and 15.
"Bilal Kazi acted with absolute ruthlessness in grooming, manipulating and exploiting a large number of young vulnerable girls," said Martin McRobb, Specialist Prosecutor at the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS).
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"He befriended them online and forced them to take photos and videos carrying out sexual acts. He then blackmailed those who refused to comply with his further demands, threatening to post the explicit imagery to others.
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"He posed as a teenage boy in order to attract and gain the trust of his victims and caused many to think that they were in a genuine relationship with him. When the victims realised they had been deceived, they were understandably distressed and some suffered serious and long-term trauma," McRobb said.
The CPS said its Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit presented the court with overwhelming evidence gathered by police investigators in Cheshire and West Midlands.
"The scale of Kazi's offending meant this was a truly mammoth investigation, requiring significant resources and close collaboration across the force," said Detective Constable Georgia Hughes, of the Online Child Abuse Investigation Team at Cheshire Constabulary.
"The girls targeted by Kazi were young and vulnerable. For many, their interactions with him were their first experience of what they believed to be a romantic relationship. Exploiting that trust, Kazi manipulated them into believing that his behaviour was normal.
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"His offending has had a profound and lasting impact on the victims. Many lived in constant fear of what he would do if they failed to comply with his demands, and some have carried that fear with them for years. What should have been important formative years have instead been overshadowed by the trauma of Kazi's abuse," McRobb added.
According to the police force, the first victim explained that she began speaking to Kazi on Snapchat when she was 13, believing him to be the same age. Their conversations quickly turned sexual in nature, with Kazi asking the victim a number of inappropriate questions.
"I hope this case demonstrates our commitment to protecting vulnerable people and bringing an end to the sexual exploitation of children. It should also serve as a warning to those who, like Kazi, believe that hiding behind a screen makes them anonymous and untouchable," said Detective Sergeant Ross Peel of the Constabulary.
According to the British authorities, in July 2021, the victim told Kazi that she only wanted to be friends and no longer wished to send him images. In response, Kazi became abusive, calling her names and claiming that she was his property. He then threatened to distribute the photos and videos she had previously shared with him to her friends unless she obeyed his demands. Fearing Kazi's threats, the victim felt compelled to continue sending him explicit images and videos.
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Shortly afterwards, the victim's Snapchat account was hacked and the content she had shared with Kazi was sent to her friends. She subsequently reported Kazi to Derbyshire Police in November 2021.
The case was transferred to Cheshire Constabulary after enquiries established that Kazi's last known address was in Chester. It later emerged that Kazi had left the country but was arrested on his return to the UK at Heathrow Airport in July 2023 and was interviewed in relation to the allegations made by the first victim.
“Officers identified 180 potential victims, with specialist Victim Identification Officers working to trace those targeted by Kazi using usernames and other data recovered from his device. As a result, 70 victims, aged between 11 and 17 at the time of Kazi's offending, were identified across 28 of the UK's 45 police forces," Cheshire Constabulary stated.
Once identified, each of the 70 victims was visited by police officers and offered the opportunity to disclose their experiences of Kazi's offending, the police said.
The investigation revealed how Kazi used a consistent method to target his victims. He would contact them through social media platforms, including Snapchat, Roblox and Wink, posing as a white British teenage boy called "Reece". Using photographs of an unidentified boy, he would quickly groom the victims into believing they were in a genuine relationship with him.
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