CHANDIGARH: A 27-year-old Indian student from Mumbai described by UK authorities as a ’’serial online groomer’’ has been sentenced for 30-years in prison for "exploiting and coercing" at least 70 teenage girls across the country into sending him sexually explicit videos and images.
Bilal Kazi, who was pursuing a PhD in Chemistry in the UK, targeted girls aged between 10 and 17, using social media and gaming platforms, including Snapchat, Wink and Roblox, to groom his victims between 2021 and 2025.
Kazi of Hubert Croft, Birmingham was sentenced at Chester Crown Court after pleading guilty to a series of child sexual abuse offences committed online. He will have to serve a minimum of 20 years before becoming eligible for parole and will remain on the sex offenders register for life.
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. He had previously pleaded guilty to 37 charges of child sexual offences.
Martin McRobb, Specialist Prosecutor at the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said, "Bilal Kazi acted with absolute ruthlessness in grooming, manipulating and exploiting a large number of young vulnerable girls.
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.’’
"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," he said.
A statement issued by the Cheshire Police stated that the investigation into Kazi’s offending was taken over by officers from Cheshire Constabulary’s Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) in May 2022, after one of his victims reported the abuse she had suffered to Derbyshire Police.
The victim stated 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.
He then began requesting naked images and videos from the victim. Over a short time, those requests became increasingly frequent and persistent. "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,’’ it stated. The statement read, "Fearing Kazi’s threats, the victim felt compelled to continue sending him explicit images and videos.
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.’’
It noted that the case was later transferred to Cheshire Constabulary after enquiries established that Kazi’s last known address was in Chester.
However, checks revealed that he had since left the area and his whereabouts were unknown. He was then circulated as wanted while enquiries to trace him continued. It was later established that Kazi had left the country.
Kazi 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. "His mobile phone was subsequently seized and examined by the force’s Digital Forensics Unit (DFU).
The examination uncovered evidence of what investigators believe to be the largest network of offending ever encountered by OCAIT,’’ it added. The statement stated that the 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. 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 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. Once he had gained their trust, Kazi would begin requesting explicit images and videos from his victims.
He manipulated the young girls into believing that sharing such content was a normal part of being in a relationship. His demands would soon escalate, with victims being pressured into recording themselves performing sexual acts.
When victims refused to comply, Kazi would threaten to share the images and videos they had already sent him. These threats left victims feeling frightened and intimidated, and some continued to engage with him out of fear.
In some cases, Kazi maintained contact with his victims for more than a year, deceiving them into believing they were in a relationship with someone entirely different. Kazi was subsequently charged with 39 offences as part of Cheshire Constabulary’s OCAIT investigation, relating to offending committed between August 2021 and August 2025.
He pleaded guilty to 37 of the charges, with two being left to lie on file. He was also charged by West Midlands Police with a further eight offences committed while on police bail for the Cheshire investigation. These offences were considered as part of his overall sentence.
The charges include causing a child aged 13-15 to engage in penetrative sexual activity, blackmail, and making indecent images of children. "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.
