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From Aloysius Attah, Onitsha
Police operatives in Anambra State have rescued 35 teenage girls trapped in a forced prostitution and baby factory ring in a hotel located at Umusiome, Nkpor, Idemili North Local Government Area of the State.
Also arrested during the raid were seven other female accomplices, including a 35-year-old lady who serves as their madam and assistant manager, and two security guards with three pump action guns.
Parading the suspects and the victims at the Area Command Headquarters, Onitsha, yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Ikenga Tochi, said that the police, led by the Onitsha Area Commander, John Obuagbaka, following an intelligence gathering on June 13, 2022, stormed the premises of Gally Gally Hotel, Umusiome Nkpor, where several young girls, between the ages of 14 and 17, were used as sex toys by the hotel management who collected money on their behalf and allowed men to sleep with them for a fee.
He said preliminary investigation revealed that most of the under aged girls, brought from different parts of the country, were lured into prostitution in the hotel on the pretext that they were employed as sales girls and waiters at the hotel. He disclosed that four of the girls were already pregnant at the time of the raid, while some others who got pregnant before now could not account for their babies.
He said police have involved the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), whom the under aged girls would be handed over for further actions and rehabilitation.
Describing the scene at the hotel as a coordinated crime, the PPRO said some of the matured ladies arrested included those who were responsible for receiving the girls into the brothel, collect money from them after servicing their male patrons and, also, in concert with the vigilante operatives working there to prevent the ladies from escaping from the facility.
He also disclosed that N877,500 was recovered from
the scene of crime, while the owner of the hotel was still at large even as the police had spread its dragnet to apprehend him.
He said the Commissioner of Police, Echeng Echeng, has ordered a full scale investigation over the matter and, also, counselled parents and guardians to take serious care of children under their care, so as to prevent the spiralling effect of crime in the larger society.
