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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said yesterday, that it has rescued seven suspected victims who were being prepared to be trafficked to Baghdad, Iraq, for exploitation.
The suspected victims were rescued in a popular hotel located at Zamaru, a few kilometers away from the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, where they were being prepared for the journey to Iraq.
NAPTIP, in a statement, noted that preliminary investigation revealed that six of the rescued victims were deceived and recruited from Lagos, while one came from Delta State, with a promise of a caregiving job in Iraq, hence they are signed off into slavery by two sets of recruiters whose identities are not known to them.
It also confirmed that the raid led to the arrest of the hotel manager, while the identities of the recruiters are not known yet even to the suspected victims.
The statement which was signed by Vincent Adekoye, Press Officer, NAPTIP, further indicated that the raid followed credible intelligence from concerned stakeholders who noticed unusual movement of some young girls and strange-looking men within the hotel, thereby indicating that the facilities are being used to habour victims of human trafficking.
“They told me that I will do a house help in Baghdad and I will receive good salary every month. I believed them because I thought that Baghdad is in another Country. They did not tell me that I was going to work on Iraq”, one of them recalled with tears as she narrated her ordeal in the hands of the recruiter.
Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, expressed displeasure over the role of some unscrupulous service providers in the recruitment and trafficking of Nigerians for various forms of exploitation, and warned that henceforth the Agency shall invoke the relevant provisions of its Law to prosecute erring entity/ies.
Represented by the Director, Research and Programme Development, Josiah Emerole, the DG said, “It is sad the way some service providers aid and abet the recruitment, transportation, transfer, and habouring of Nigerians who are victims of human trafficking.
“The hotel is believed to be a muster point for victims of human trafficking to some of the notorious destination-countries. The Manager of the hotel is being quizzed, and we have also intensified the manhunt for other members of the trafficking gang working in collaboration with other criminal elements in Iraq.
“The suspected victims were trafficked from different parts of the Country, and haboured in the hotel. They are further briefed on how to evade arrest at any point by disguising themselves in various forms and answering questions from Law enforcement Officers at the airport.
“Due to the unpatriotic roles of some of these service providers, the Agency shall henceforth invoke the appropriate section of its Law to prosecute them. This is because harbouring suspected victims of human trafficking is also an offense in the Trafficking law”, the DG said
