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| Italy investigates if wrong man was held over people smuggling | Italy investigates if wrong man was held over people smuggling |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Italian prosecutors are investigating whether the wrong man was extradited to Italy in a major operation against people-smuggling. | Italian prosecutors are investigating whether the wrong man was extradited to Italy in a major operation against people-smuggling. |
| Mered Medhanie is thought to be at the heart of a ring trafficking migrants from Africa to Europe. | Mered Medhanie is thought to be at the heart of a ring trafficking migrants from Africa to Europe. |
| A 35-year-old Eritrean man said to be the suspect was detained in Sudan last month and flown to Rome on Tuesday. | |
| People said to be friends and family of the detainee have told the BBC he is Medhanie Tesfarmariam Berhe, 27. | |
| Investigators say Mered Medhanie - dubbed The General - was responsible for the death of 359 migrants who drowned when their boat sank off the Italian coast in October 2013. | |
| The man who was extradited was arrested by Sudanese police with the help of the British and Italian authorities, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) said. | The man who was extradited was arrested by Sudanese police with the help of the British and Italian authorities, the UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) said. |
| "I was going crazy": Seghen Tesfarmariam Berhe, said to be sister of Medhanie Tesfarmariam Berhe, speaking to BBC from Khartoum, Sudan | |
| He's not Mered Medhanie. He's my younger brother. His name is Medhanie Tesfarmariam Berhe. We have been living here for one year together in Khartoum. | |
| He is not a human trafficker. He is my brother. | |
| I called the [Sudanese] police but they said there is no person with that name. I have been searching for him for two weeks. They told me there is nobody with that name in prison. All of a sudden I see him in Italy. | |
| I have been worried sick. I have been crying the whole two weeks. I did not know if he was alive or dead. His photo… he looks awful. I feel sad to see him like that. | |
| But Francesco Lo Voi, the chief prosecutor in the Italian city of Palermo, now says "we are carrying out the necessary checks". | But Francesco Lo Voi, the chief prosecutor in the Italian city of Palermo, now says "we are carrying out the necessary checks". |
| "The identification of the suspect, his arrest, his handing over and his extradition to Italy were communicated to us in an official manner by the NCA and the Sudanese authorities through Interpol," he told Italy's Ansa news agency. | "The identification of the suspect, his arrest, his handing over and his extradition to Italy were communicated to us in an official manner by the NCA and the Sudanese authorities through Interpol," he told Italy's Ansa news agency. |
| The NCA said it was "too soon to speculate" about the claims but added it was "confident in its intelligence-gathering process". | The NCA said it was "too soon to speculate" about the claims but added it was "confident in its intelligence-gathering process". |
| A woman who identifies herself as an older sister, Seghen Tesfarmariam Berhe, told the BBC's Newsnight programme from Khartoum that she had been living with her brother Medhanie Tesfarmariam Berhe in the Sudanese capital for a year before he vanished two weeks ago. | |
| Her brother, she said, had come illegally to Sudan in March 2015 as a refugee after fleeing Eritrea via Ethiopia. | |
| He had been hoping, she said, to join another sister living in the US and to study and work there. | |
| A woman living in Norway who identified herself as another sister told Newsnight her brother was "completely innocent". | |
| Hiwet Tesfamariam Berhe Kidane said she had last spoken to him about three weeks ago and had first learned of his arrest when she saw pictures of him on television and social media. | Hiwet Tesfamariam Berhe Kidane said she had last spoken to him about three weeks ago and had first learned of his arrest when she saw pictures of him on television and social media. |
| Hermon Berhe, who lives in Ethiopia, said he had grown up in Eritrea with the man shown in pictures handed out by Italian police. | Hermon Berhe, who lives in Ethiopia, said he had grown up in Eritrea with the man shown in pictures handed out by Italian police. |
| "I don't think he has any bone in his body which can involve such kind of things," he said. "He is a loving, friendly and kind person." | "I don't think he has any bone in his body which can involve such kind of things," he said. "He is a loving, friendly and kind person." |
| And Meron Estefanos, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist who interviewed the real Mered Medhanie in a phone call last year, said: "I called refugees who know the real smuggler and I showed them the picture of what the Italians published and then everybody said, 'No, that's not the smuggler that smuggled us into Europe'. | And Meron Estefanos, a Swedish-Eritrean journalist who interviewed the real Mered Medhanie in a phone call last year, said: "I called refugees who know the real smuggler and I showed them the picture of what the Italians published and then everybody said, 'No, that's not the smuggler that smuggled us into Europe'. |
| "I believe they have the wrong person. This is a refugee who happened to be in [the Sudanese capital] Khartoum at the wrong place at the wrong time." | "I believe they have the wrong person. This is a refugee who happened to be in [the Sudanese capital] Khartoum at the wrong place at the wrong time." |
| She added that rumours were going around Khartoum that the real Mered Medhanie had been arrested in Sudan but had managed to bribe himself out of jail. |