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A 27-year-old Indian-origin student in the United Kingdom has been sentenced to 30 years in prison for grooming around 70 underage girls online. The convict, Bilal Kazi, posed as a teenager to approach young victims, manipulate them into sending sexually explicit pictures and videos, and later blackmail them into complying with his demands.
Kazi targeted girls aged between 10 and 17 years across digital platforms. To establish contact without raising suspicion, he created a false online persona and presented himself as a 14-year-old white British boy. He used the fake name Reece while interacting with the girls. By adopting the identity of a peer, he was able to initiate conversations and build familiarity with his young targets.
Fake Identity Used to Target Young Girls
The core of Kazi’s approach relied on deception regarding his age and background. While actually a 27-year-old student, he consistently maintained the cover of being a 14-year-old boy. This false identity allowed him to blend into online spaces frequented by children and teenagers. Girls aged 10 to 17 were drawn into conversations under the impression that they were communicating with someone close to their own age.
Once initial contact was established, Kazi worked to manipulate the victims. Through sustained online interaction, he persuaded and pressured the underage girls into sharing sexually explicit images and videos of themselves. The victims, some as young as 10 years old, were gradually led into compromising situations by the person they believed to be a teenage boy named Reece.
Apps Used for Online Contact
To reach the victims, Kazi operated across multiple popular platforms used by young people. He targeted girls on apps including Snapchat, Wink, and Roblox. These social and gaming platforms served as the primary channels through which he initiated contact, maintained communication, and carried out the grooming process.
After obtaining sexually explicit pictures and videos from the girls, Kazi shifted to coercion. He used the explicit material to blackmail the victims, forcing them to comply with his further demands. Around 70 underage girls were affected by his actions across these apps.
Thirty-Year Prison Sentence
The scale of the offences, involving dozens of victims between the ages of 10 and 17, led to a 30-year jail term for the 27-year-old student. His method of impersonating a 14-year-old white British boy named Reece on Snapchat, Wink, and Roblox enabled him to systematically groom and exploit underage girls before subjecting them to blackmail.
