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From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) said on Tuesday, that they rescued eight children suspected to have been “stolen” from Kano and a few other states in the north.
NAPTIP, in a statement, said the children were trafficked to the south–south and south eastern part of the country by a suspected wanted inter-state child trafficking syndicate who is one of the executive members of the umbrella body of the Association of Orphanage operators in Nigeria and also operate an orphanage.
It stated that the rescued children were identified through their pictures and other unique features by the representative of the concerned parents from Kano State, out of the over 70 children found inside the orphanage, including neonates.
The Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, in her reaction, decried the activities of some orphanages in the country, saying that a good number of them have become a haven for stolen children.
She confirmed that the successful operation was carried out with the support of the Operatives of the Department of the State Service (DSS), Anambra State Command; and Men of the Nigerian Police, Delta State Command; with the technical support of the Kano State Government through the State Ministry of Women Affairs, organized Civil Society Organization in Kano State, as well as some concerned parents.
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She said, “The operation in question was carried out with precision, and it was purely intelligence-driven with the involvement of our good partners, which included operatives of the DSS, Police, and other members of the intelligence community.
“It was a fallout of the persistent outcry of some distressed parents in Kano and other States within the region alleging the abduction of their children.“
Meanwhile, the NAPTIP boss noted that in 2017, some parents in Kano and other states in the region raised an alarm on the unwholesome activities of some syndicates who move from one community to another other luring children mostly between the ages of 2 years to 10 years and trafficking them to other parts of the country.
She stated that preliminary investigation revealed that the syndicates operating under the guise of traders typically work in two batches. A syndicate normally lives briefly within the target community, gets used to the children, and later disappears with them, others come in as traders and operate from parks and terminals, where they lure unaccompanied children on their way to school and errands.
She also noted that the incident climaxed in 2022 as another set of over 25 children were allegedly lured and trafficked out of the region by the same suspected syndicate, thereby prompting a public outcry from stakeholders, including members of the Civil Society Organization (CSOs) in the communities within the States.
She commended the DSS, the Police and other partners for their support and collaboration on the operation, and reiterated that the operation in question underscored the commitment to combat the sale and trafficking of persons, protect vulnerable children, and ensure justice is served in accordance with the law.
