Indian student who posed as teenage boy on Snapchat to trick over 70 girls into sending explicit images of themselves jailed for 30 years

Bilal Kazi, a 27-year-old Indian student, has been jailed for 30 years after admitting 37 child sexual offences. He posed online as a teenage boy to gain girls’ trust, obtain explicit images and blackmail them into sending more, exploiting children who believed they were safe at home.

Police identified 71 victims aged 11 to 17, though investigators suspect there may have been as many as 180. Kazi mainly used Snapchat, as well as Roblox and Wink, and threatened to share saved images with victims’ friends and families; one 13-year-old’s video was seen by 93 friends, and she later attempted suicide. He had overstayed his student visa after studying in the UK.