•Kidnap victim returns from Libya
•Five held
One year after she was kidnapped and sold into sex-slavery in Libya, Precious Ugochi Okoro, 15, has been rescued by the police.
She relived her ordeal yesterday when her suspected kidnappers were paraded by Lagos State Commissioner of Police Kayode Aderanti.
The suspects are: Innocent Onyekwe, 38; Ugwu Christopher Maduabuchi, 37; Christian Mercy Chima,19; Kelvin Okorie, 27, and Ogbonna Njoku, 20.
Precious said: “I did Junior Secondary Class ‘3’ before I became a victim. That fateful day, I left home in the evening and was going back to school. I boarded a vehicle from Ajah/Epe area moving towards Ijebu-Ode with the intention of alighting at Obalende. It was late and I could not get any vehicle going to Obalende where I alighted. After waiting for 30 minutes, I started trekking to Obalende.
“Along the line, I saw a group of about five boys and girls and became happy because everywhere was desolate. Unfortunately, their language changed as they started wielding cutlasses, axes and other dangerous weapons claiming to be cultists. They beat me to the point of death at about 11pm because I left home at about 5pm that fateful day after collecting money from my father. They threatened to kill me if I did not join them.
“Later I found myself in Ojota. The guy who took me to Ojota with his car promised to protect me. When he went to work, he left his phone and I used it to call my cousin, Kelvin. When Daniel, Kelvin’s friend, said he would help me to travel to Libya, Kelvin said he would help to perfect it. The next day he collected the Yellow Card. We spent four weeks to the desert where we spent five days in the desert.”
She went on: “When we reached Libya, I rested for three days. They took me to a place they call “connection” and asked me to wait. As I was waiting, a woman came and asked me if I knew why I was there and I said I came to work and school. She got annoyed and said I did not know why I was there.
“They started punishing me until I accepted to be paying $3000 through prostitution and $6,000 to regain my freedom. They even cut the hair in my pubic, armpit and head. They threatened to make me mad should I reveal what they were doing to me to anybody. They even collected money totalling N250,000 from my mother without letting me know.”
Aderanti also spoke on what she went through before her rescue.
He said: “On May 25, 2014, one Precious Ugochi Okoro of 55, Igboroko Street, Lakwe, Ajah in Lagos, who was on her way back to her school, a boarding facility in Ikenne, Ogun State, was kidnapped. The kidnappers, after two months of holding the victim against her will and all rules of decency, contacted her parents using various telephone numbers and demanded various sums of money ranging from $30,000, N200,000 and N30,000 as ransom with different account numbers as details for receiving the demanded ransom.”
The police chief said concerted investigations began, involving the Police Divisional Headquarters, Ajah; Department of Criminal Investigation (DCI), Panti, Yaba, and theSpecial Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) using advanced tactics and technology.
He said with the arrest of the victim’s relation simply named Kelvin, contact was established with a member of the gang in Libya, leading to the safe return of the victim to Lagos last Friday.
Processes of rehabilitating her and re-integrating her back into society have begun.
“It is very important that parents and guardians pay more attention to their children and wards especially those attending boarding schools. They should ensure that they personally take them to such schools and bring them back to ensure their safety. However, where probably the exigencies of duty may not permit such, they should ensure that a responsible and trusted adult does this for them,” Aderanti said.
He said: “This criminal gang is a menace to the society. No effort will be spared in partnership with Interpol National Central Bureau, Nigeria, to round up its remaining members no matter where they may be on the face of this earth. From the victim, we have learnt that there are over a thousand teenagers of our nationality who are being held in such circumstances. We are already working to liberate them.”
Kelvin said he was paid N10,000 to sell the girl to the guy in Libya, adding that he was with Daniel when he sold her.
He said Daniel also connected Ogbonna, the elder brother of the guy in Libya, at Alaba Market.
“I am a tiler. I am from Ogun State. Precious is my cousin’s sister. She came to me to rescue her but the devil made me to sell her,” added Kelvin.
Ogbonna, who hails from Ohazala in Ebonyi State, said: “They called and asked me of my Libya-based younger brother’s phone number and I gave them. It was Daniel that I gave the number of my brother Nzubuchukwu. I can swear that Kelvin did not tell me that her parents were looking for her and I did not understand the game they were playing with my brother’s phone number until I was arrested.”
Command’s spokesman Ken Nwosu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said some of the suspects had been charged to court.
