NAPTIP RESCUES 12 HUMAN TRAFFICKING VICTIMS FROM GHANA, DISRUPTS CROSS-BORDER NETWORK
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By Aishat Momoh. O.
No fewer than 12 victims of human trafficking have been repatriated from Ghana by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons as part of ongoing trans-border collaboration with security agencies to combat trafficking in persons.
The Lagos State Command of NAPTIP disclosed this in a statement issued on Tuesday, noting that the victims were rescued through coordinated efforts involving the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana and other partner law enforcement agencies.
The returnees include nine females aged between 17 and 19, two males aged 22, and a baby.
According to the agency, preliminary investigations showed that the victims were recruited in Nigeria with promises of lucrative jobs but were instead trafficked to Ghana, where they were allegedly forced into prostitution and cybercrime activities.
Receiving the returnees, the Zonal Commander of NAPTIP Lagos, Mrs Agboko Comfort—represented by the Head of the International and Intelligence Cooperation Unit, Omolara Ibrahim—said the victims should see their return as an opportunity to rebuild their lives.
She commended partner agencies for their collaboration in ensuring the safe return and proper handover of the victims to the agency.
Comfort also assured that NAPTIP would intensify efforts to track down and prosecute those behind the trafficking network.
In a related development, troops of the Nigerian Army disrupted another trafficking operation in Ibereko, Badagry, Lagos State, rescuing two female victims and arresting suspects during a patrol along the Seme border axis.
According to the army, the suspects were intercepted while conveying the victims to the border, where they were to be handed over to another contact within the trafficking chain for onward movement to Ghana. One suspect reportedly escaped and is currently at large.
The army said preliminary investigations are ongoing to dismantle the wider trafficking network operating along the border corridor.
The development comes less than three weeks after NAPTIP secured the conviction and life imprisonment of two Abuja-based security guards for repeatedly raping a six-year-old girl, underscoring intensified enforcement actions against exploitation and abuse nationwide.
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