The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), with the support of partners, has intercepted 13 girls suspected to be victims of human trafficking en route to Baghdad, Iraq for sexual and labour exploitation.
The girls whose ages range between 19 to 39 years were allegedly deceived and recruited by some faceless unregistered labour recruiters who are suspected to be agents of larger criminal labour recruiting gangs operating between Nigeria and some Middle East countries.
The Agency’s Spokesperson, Mr. Vincent Adekoye, in a statement yesterday, said the girls were incepted at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, shortly before departing for Iraq.
In a similar vein, operatives of the Agency also sealed up a popular Three Star Hotel located at the everbusy community of Kwali, Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, and rescued 1 sexual expedition.
Adekoye said luck ran out of the owner of the hotel as she was arrested while other supporting staff escaped. The development came barely one month after operatives of NAPTIP burst a private apartment located inside one of the highbrow estates in the heart of Abuja and rescued 9 pregnant girls suspected to be victims of human trafficking.
He said: “The interception of the Iraq-bound girls followed a tip-off by some concerned partners who noticed the unusual movement of some unknown faces at the departure lounge of the Airport in the company of some timidly looking girls all chorusing the same answer to different questions about their destination, and immediately alerted the Agency.”
Speaking on the incident, the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, who witnessed the interception of the first batch of five girls at the Airport on her way out of Abuja for an official duty to Adamawa, expressed displeasure over the level of deceit by the traffickers and called on parents and guardians to always be careful of fake promises for their children and wards.
The DG said: “I wish to point out that our action is in line with the provision of the Trafficking in Persons (Control of Activities of Organizations and Centres) Regulations 2019, which empowers NAPTIP to issue clearance certificates to all travel agents or tour operators and intending travellers for the purpose of Educational excursions, Recruitment for Labour, Sporting activities, Cultural, excursions or competitions as well as all organisations, shelters, and homes offering services for the purpose of rehabilitation of trafficked persons.
“The case at hand is pathetic because these girls were deceived and recruited for a supposed job in Baghdad by unlicensed labour recruiters who are not known to any constituted authority in Nigeria.
