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By Christopher Oji
The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two suspected human traffickers and rescued 10 girls, who were being trafficked to some west African countries.
The syndicate was cracked by the operatives of the crack squad of the state police command, led by CSP Uba Adams.
The victims were lodged in a hotel in preparation for their transfer to the different west African countries, when the police rescued them. The survivors claimed that they were lured by the syndicate with a promise of juicy employment in neighbouring African countries.
The Lagos State Police Public Relations officer (PPRO), SP Benjamin Hundeyin, who paraded the suspect, yesterday, said they were nabbed by the crack squad of the state police command, led by CSP Uba Adams. He gave the names of the suspects as: Chike Aniebonam, 42, and Donald Ojikote, 55. Hundenyi said the victims were, “abducted from the South South, South West East and the South West parts of Nigeria.
He said: “The Crack Squad of the Lagos State Police Command, situated in Gbagada, got the intelligence that a syndicate that specialised in abducting teenage girls and selling them to their partners in neighbouring countries and we got to work and within a week, we got enough information and swung to action with the arrest of the two suspects were about in the Maza-maza area of Lagos.
“The children are between the ages of 16 and 23 years of age. We have already established contact with the parents and the relatives of the victims. In a matter of hours now, we will hand them over to their relatives. We are working with Interpol to arrest their international collaborators and other members of the syndicate.”
One of the victims, simply identified as Godslove, said she and her younger sister, Ifonobong, were introduced to members of the syndicate by a former neighbour of theirs.
She said: “We have a former neighbour, who still communicates with us. When we told her that we needed a job, she assured us that she had a sister outside of Nigeria, who has a big restaurant and got us a job. That was how we were introduced to these people (suspects) and we were waiting to be taken there, when we were arrested.
Another set of sisters, 19-year-old Success and 17-year-old Chioma, said they were introduced to members of the gang by their aunt, after the death of their parents. One of the suspects, Chike Aniebonam, told newsmen that he was only responsible for taking the abducted girls to different West African countries.
He said: “I have only taken the girls to Togo, Ghana, Ivory and the Republic of Benin. I am only a driver. I got a call from one of my customers to help bring the girl to Benin Republic. That was not the first time that I would be taking girls to her.
I used to help her carry load too. From some of the waybills that she sent, she is into sales and supply of foodstuffs. She also operates a restaurant.”
Hundeyin stated that the police would work with the necessary government agencies to ensure that the suspects are properly prosecuted in accordance with the law.
