Who is Bilal Kazi? Indian-origin student jailed in UK for 30 years for grooming 70 girls; how he exploited minors online

A 27-year-old Indian-origin former student has been sentenced to 30 years in prison in the United Kingdom for grooming and sexually exploiting dozens of underage girls through social media and online gaming platforms.

Bilal Kazi, who was described by UK authorities as a serial online groomer, was sentenced at Chester Crown Court on Friday, November 13, after pleading guilty to a series of child sexual abuse offences, according to a BBC News report.

He will also serve an additional eight years on extended licence.

The investigation uncovered the extent of his online offending, with police identifying 70 victims across 28 of the UK's 45 police forces.

Investigators initially identified 180 potential victims, suggesting that the actual scale of the abuse could be considerably wider.

Cheshire Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) detailed the investigation following his sentencing.

Who is Bilal Kazi?

Bilal Kazi is a 27-year-old Indian national from Mumbai, Maharashtra, who moved to the UK for higher education.

According to Sky News, Kazi initially pursued a PhD in Chester before moving to Birmingham, where he studied chemistry at the University of Birmingham. He was living in Birmingham when he was sentenced at Chester Crown Court.

Kazi was found guilty of a series of online child sexual abuse offences after admitting to charges involving the exploitation of minors, blackmail and the making of indecent images of children.

The CPS said he was already a registered sex offender and was subject to a Sexual Risk Order when he committed some of the offences.

He received a 30-year prison sentence, followed by an additional eight years on extended licence.

The court also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a restraining order, as per Sky News.

How did Bilal Kazi groom and exploit girls online?

Investigators found that Kazi followed a consistent pattern to approach and manipulate his victims.

He reportedly used social media and gaming platforms, including Snapchat, Roblox and Wink, to contact girls, presenting himself as a white British teenage boy named 'Reece'. He reportedly used photographs of an unidentified teenage boy to make the false identity appear genuine.

By pretending to be a teenager, Kazi gained the confidence of girls, some of whom believed they were communicating with someone their own age and eventually thought they were in a genuine romantic relationship.

Once he had established trust, he began asking them to share sexually explicit photographs and videos. His demands subsequently escalated, with victims being pressured into recording themselves performing sexual acts.

According to the CPS, Kazi manipulated the girls into believing that sharing such material was a normal part of being in a relationship.

When some refused to comply with his further demands, he resorted to blackmail, threatening to circulate the images and videos they had already shared with him among their friends and other people.

The threats left several victims frightened and intimidated, forcing some to continue sending explicit material. In certain cases, he maintained contact with victims for more than a year, as per CPS.

How did the online grooming racket come to light?

The investigation began after a 13-year-old girl reported her experience to Derbyshire Police in November 2021.

She had started communicating with Kazi on Snapchat, believing he was a boy of her own age. Their conversations soon turned sexual, with Kazi asking inappropriate questions and pressuring her to share explicit images.

In July 2021, the girl told him she wanted to remain friends and no longer wished to send him photographs.

Kazi responded abusively, calling her names and claiming that she belonged to him.

He also threatened to distribute the images and videos she had previously shared unless she continued complying with his demands. Fearing that the material would be exposed, the girl continued sending him explicit content.

Her Snapchat account was subsequently hacked, and the material she had shared with Kazi reached her friends. She then approached the police.

The investigation was transferred to Cheshire Constabulary's Online Child Abuse Investigation Team (OCAIT) in May 2022 after enquiries established that Kazi's last known address was in Chester.

However, investigators discovered that he had left the country. He was arrested at Heathrow Airport in July 2023 when he returned to the UK and questioned over the allegations.

His mobile phone was seized and examined by the police's Digital Forensics Unit. The examination uncovered evidence of a much wider pattern of online offending, prompting investigators to expand the inquiry.

How did investigators identify 70 victims?

The scale of the investigation emerged after specialist victim identification officers examined usernames, digital records and other information recovered from Kazi's devices.

Police initially identified 180 potential victims. Further enquiries helped officers establish the identities of 70 girls who had been targeted across 28 of the UK's 45 police forces.

The identified victims were aged between 11 and 17 at the time of the offending, although the CPS said Kazi had targeted girls as young as 10.

Officers visited all 70 identified victims and offered them an opportunity to disclose their experiences.

The investigation also uncovered hundreds of indecent images and videos on Kazi's devices.

The CPS said more than 400 indecent images and videos were recovered from his phone during the Cheshire investigation, while more than 500 additional images and videos were found on devices examined in Birmingham.

The inquiry involved investigators from Cheshire Constabulary and West Midlands Police, with the CPS's Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit presenting the evidence in court.

Detective Constable Georgia Hughes of Cheshire Constabulary's Online Child Abuse Investigation Team described the investigation as a "truly mammoth" operation that required significant resources and cooperation across the force, according to CPS.

Kazi was sentenced to 30 years in prison at Chester Crown Court on November 13, 2026, after pleading guilty to a series of child sexual abuse offences.

The sentence includes an additional eight-year extended licence period, during which he will remain subject to supervision following his release from prison.

The offences included causing children to engage in sexual activity, blackmail and making indecent images of children.

The court also imposed a Sexual Harm Prevention Order and a restraining order to restrict his future conduct.

The CPS said its Organised Child Sexual Abuse Unit had presented extensive evidence gathered by police investigators in Cheshire and the West Midlands.