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Indian Student Jailed For Grooming 70 Girls Online (Img: X)
Birmingham: A UK court has sentenced an Indian student, Bilal Kazi, to 30 years in jail for grooming at least 70 girls online and coercing them into performing sexual acts. He used fake identities on social media and gaming platforms to gain the trust of his victims, aged between 10 and 15, before blackmailing them with explicit images and videos.
Bilal Kazi, 27, who was studying at the University of Chester and lived in Birmingham, was sentenced by the Chester Crown Court on Friday. He had pleaded guilty to 37 child sexual abuse offences, including 24 counts of causing a child, including those under 13, to engage in sexual activity, six counts of blackmail and three counts of making indecent photographs of a child.
Kazi used the identity of a white British teenage boy named Reece on platforms such as Snapchat, Roblox and Wink. He also used photographs of an unidentified boy to make the fake profile appear genuine and convince young girls that they were in a relationship with him.
After gaining their confidence, he would ask the girls to send explicit photographs and videos of themselves performing sexual acts. If they refused, he threatened to circulate material they had already shared with him.
The case came to light in November 2021 after one of the victims approached the police. She had started communicating with Kazi on Snapchat when she was 13. During their conversations, he began asking her to send naked photographs and videos.
Kazi had left the UK but was arrested at Heathrow Airport in July 2023 when he returned to the country. A search of his electronic devices uncovered more than 900 indecent images and videos.
