The Nigeria Navy said it has rescued 50 prostitutes and arrested three suspected sex traffickers during a raid on two brothels in Port Harcourt.
Base Information Officer of Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder, Lt.-Cdr. Richard Iginla, said the operation was carried out in collaboration with the Nigeria Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
According to him, the 50 prostitutes, mainly teenage girls were rescued in the early hours of Saturday after a tip-off from NAPTIP.
“We got the intelligence from NAPTIP, who had been tracking the brothels that camped juveniles with some of them as young as 14 years of age. So, after NAPTIP shared intelligence with us, a joint team was set up and we immediately went into action to rescue the victims. No fewer than 50 young girls forced into prostitution were rescued while three recruiters and operators of the brothels were arrested,” he said.
Iginla said the brothels; Royal Brothel and Cool Breeze Brothel both located on Azikiwe Road in Diobu area of Port Harcourt had been shut down.
He said that efforts were ongoing to trail and arrest the leaders of the sex trafficking ring, who recruits children from villages into prostitution.
Head of NAPTIP in Rivers, Mrs Nwa-amaka Ikediashi, said the agency would rehabilitate the victims with focus to reintegrating them back into the society.
According to her, the victims, mainly under-aged girls, would also partake in different phases of counselling, to ensure they don’t continue prostitution.