The deputy director of the National Crime Agency (NCA), Tom Dowdall, seemed very sure of himself on 7 June when he officially announced, with photos to prove it, that his services had aided in arresting Medhanie Yehdego Mered in Khartoum on 24 May. Mered was subsequently extradited to Italy on 6 June. He was believed to be the biggest smuggler of Eritrean illegal immigrants.
However, on 9 June, The Guardian published statements by people close to the alleged trafficker that he was in fact a certain Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe. According to our sources, the Sudanese National Police with support from the UK GCHQ had in fact arrested the real trafficker but he had then bribed his gaolers to let him escape. Sudan then knowingly extradited the Eritrean Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe whom they had picked up in a raid in his place. The NCA is so embarrassed that it no longer discusses the subject.
If Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe manages to prove that he has been the victim of a procedural error, he will be entitled to substantial damages. Furthermore, if he can prove that his safety will be under threat if he returns to Sudan and he could be persecuted in Eritrea, he will be entitled to claim asylum in Italy.
