A total of 50 young girls between 12 and 15 years suspected to be victims of human trafficking and illegal migration allegedly ‘packaged’ for export to Saudi Arabia have been intercepted by the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Abuja.
Already, the agency has arrested the trafficker suspected to be a prominent Northern businessman based in Kaduna State (name with-held) and he is helping in investigation.
Before now, the agency had arrested 39 women suspected to be victims of human trafficking and illegal migration at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport while 11 others were traced to a popular hotel and arrested in Abuja through intelligence gathering.
The Agency confirmed that among those arrested in connection with the planned trafficking of the victims were two recruiters from a popular Labour Recruitment Travel and Tour Company located at Jabi area of Abuja, and a Muslim cleric from the Mosque, where the victims were hidden in preparation for the journey
The women are currently helping the agency with useful information to aid further investigation
Dame Julie Okah-Donli, Director-General of NAPTIP, said the raid was part of the efforts put in place to halt the illegal migration and trafficking of Nigerians and its attendant tragedies.
Okah-Donli bemoaned “The Agency is pained by the trafficking of our people by some unscrupulous persons under the disguise of getting them job outside the country.
According to her, “The last of such being the 26 girls that died under unclear circumstances enroute Europe.
NAPTIP has decided, in addition to aggressive massive sensitization embarked upon in some of the identified endemic states and communities, to strengthen it surveillance team and inter- Agency cooperation in some of the entry and exit points so that we count rescue these victims before they are trafficked out for various purposes.
“Within the last few days, we have had consultations with Officials of some of the Embassies in Nigeria with a view to streamlining the issuance of Visa and other documents to applicants whose mission is suspicious.
“Efforts are also on-going to review the operational permits of some of the Labour Recruitment Companies as well as Travel and Tours Agents with a view to regulating their operations in such a way that it will not jeopardize the current effort by the Federal Government to fight human trafficking and illegal migration.
“Other members of these syndicates will be apprehended wherever they are hidden and would be made to face the wrath of the law” Okah-Donli said.
