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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said yesterday, that its officials have arrested a female arrowhead of an interstate human trafficking gang that specialized in trafficking of children from one part of Nigeria to the other.
Vincent Adekoye, NAPTIP Press Officer, in a statement, said the suspect, Hasana Jacob, 33, from Mangu Local Government of Plateau State is an alternate female truck driver with a popular cement company located in Obajana, near Lokoja, Kogi State.
He said the suspect was arrested along with the Cement Truck branded in the name and logo of the Company together with six other suspected members of the gang, namely, Aisha Suleiman, Murtala Tanimu, Shamsu Tanimu, Adamu Jacob, Abubakar Ahmed, and Ali Muhammed, in Abuja by the operatives of the Department of State Service (DSS) while trying to sell off their latest victim, a 3-year-old girl that was stolen from Damaturu, Yobe State.
He said investigation had revealed that Hasana Jacob commands a professional human trafficking syndicate that specializes in stealing children between the ages of One and above, and selling them to interested buyers at the rate of N600,000.00 each.
He said that because Hasana is a Truck Driver with the popular Cement Company, it was very easy for her to steal children at any of the terminals across the Country, evade security checks on the roads, and deliver such stolen children to her gang members at any location without being noticed.
NAPTIP said it’s suspecting that the syndicate has membership across the Country with different roles, and while some members of the trafficking ring hunt and lure victims to the truck terminal where they will be picked up by Hasana, others arrange interested buyers at any of the terminals across the country even before the arrival of the victim thereby making it fast for the gang leader to dispose of the stolen child and collect her money.
Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, thanked the Director General of the DSS for his sustained support to the Agency which culminated in the arrest of the notorious human trafficking syndicate, and expressed sadness over the situation describing it as a heinous crime against humanity.
NAPTIP boss who was represented by the Director, Research and Programme Development, Mr. Josiah Emerole, said, “I am deeply sad by the latest arrest. It is painful to note that human beings will organize a criminal gang, use a branded vehicle of a Company, move from one part of the Country to another, steal children belonging to other families, and sell them to interested buyers whose motives for the children are not known.
“They create everlasting sorrow and pain for those families and smile to the bank after selling the children. This is unimaginable and it is a condemnable act of wickedness. This is more painful when the arrowhead of this evil syndicate is a woman who knows the pain of motherhood.”
NAPTIP said cement truck used to traffic the Child has been impounded by NAPTIP.
