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Tag: traffickers

  • How traffickers use online loans, scholarships, others to entrap victims – NAPTIP

    How traffickers use online loans, scholarships, others to entrap victims – NAPTIP

    The Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Binta Adamu Bello, has revealed some of the tactics deployed by human traffickers to lure victims.

    She said traffickers lure victims with fake job opportunities and scholarships in some destination countries, and also recruit victims as marketing agents for some branded products in order to exploit them.

    The NAPTIP boss added that some traffickers also recruit their victims through online loan schemes, baby factories, organ harvesting, and the recruitment of unsuspecting youths for online scams (yahoo-yahoo) within Nigeria, Ghana and some West African countries.

    Bello, who described the trend as worrisome, called for joint efforts by all stakeholders to kick traffickers out of Nigeria.

    She disclosed the foregoing in Abuja at a press conference to commence the 2025 World Day Against Human Trafficking with the theme: “Human trafficking is organised crime – end the exploitation”.

    Bello noted that organised criminal networks use migration flows, global supply chains, legal and economic loopholes and digital platforms to facilitate cross-border trafficking on a massive scale.

    On some of the trends by traffickers, she said: “The fight against human trafficking has continued to take new dimensions with emerging trends daily.

    “This is coupled with a new destination and further exploitation of victims.

    “Some of the disturbing trends that are on the increase are fake job opportunities and scholarships in some destination countries, recruitment of victims as marketing agents for some branded products to exploit them and recruitment of unsuspecting youths for Online scams (Yahoo-Yahoo) within Nigeria, Ghana and some West African countries.”

    She identified other baits as online trafficking/sextortion, revenge porn in Nigeria and Ghana, baby factory, organ harvesting and online loan scheme.

    “The online loan scheme is a situation where the suspect uses social media handles to lure unsuspecting victims into accepting, but at the end of the day, compels them into prostitution in return for the loan. This is common in Nigeria, Ghana,” she said.

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    She also revealed that the capacity of the Cybercrime Squad of the Agency has been strengthened to respond and address the growing trends of online recruitment and exploitation.

    “Our resolve to tackle human trafficking in Nigeria is firm and unequivocal, and we shall continue to scale our strategies to outsmart the traffickers.

    “It is our resolve to continue doubling our efforts to outsmart the tactics of the traffickers. The coming months will be very challenging for human traffickers in the country.

    “We shall increase our coordination mechanism to empower all state and non-state actors to detect and report issues of human trafficking anywhere in the country,” Bello said.

    On the importance of curbing human trafficking, she explained that human trafficking threatens national development and weakens the foundation and pillars of any nation, with women and youth as the main targets.

    “We must set aside any rivalry and join hands together and ensure the protection of Nigerians.

    “Together, let us kick human traffickers out of Nigeria.”

    The Country Representative of UNODC, Mr. Cheikh Toure, who reaffirmed UNODC’s commitment to Nigeria in tackling human trafficking, said collective efforts were critical to ending trafficking.

    He said: “I reaffirm UNODC’s unwavering solidarity with the Nigerian people in confronting the scourge of human trafficking.

    “Trafficking is not an incidental crime but a calculated, transnational enterprise profiting from the vulnerability of our women, children and men.

    “As custodian of the UN Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime (UNTOC), UNODC stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the government of Nigeria.

    “We must dismantle criminal networks through coordinated, cross-border action, strengthening justice, protecting victims and holding perpetrators accountable.

    “Policies alone cannot win this fight. Trafficking festers where vulnerability is highest in underserved communities, border regions, and among marginalised youth.

    “We must redirect energy and resources to the grassroots: empowering local leaders, traditional institutions and community networks.

    “The frontline of this battle is where poverty and desperation are exploited.

    “Human trafficking violates every principle of human dignity, destabilises societies and undermines the rule of law.

    “UNODC will deepen its partnership with Nigeria working with government, civil society, and survivors to shatter criminal empires, uplift victims and build a future where no Nigerian is bought or sold.”

  • 18 children rescued from traffickers

    18 children rescued from traffickers

    Fake doctor’, two others arrested

    Anambra State Police Command has rescued 18 children from traffickers, and arrested an alleged ‘fake doctor’ and two other syndicates.

    Commissioner of Police, Ikioye Orutugu, yesterday at the Police headquarters in Amawbia, near Awka, said the command was seeking the collaboration of the Ministry of Women’s affairs for custody, medical attention and care of the children until they recovered.

    Orutugu further called those whose children and loved ones were missing to come to the state command for proper identification.

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    Those rescued were at 3-3 and Inland town, all in Onitsha, adding that the success was based on intelligence gathering

    He said the “fake medical doctor” and another woman was arrested at 3-3, while 10 malnourished children were rescued

    “The Divisional Police Headquarters have been monitoring one of the alleged suspects in the area on the receipt of a report around July,last year about a missing six-year-old boy in the neighbourhood.

  • NAPTIP arrests three suspected traffickers

    The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Kogi State Command, has arrested three suspected human traffickers.

    The suspects, identified as Evelyn Jerry, 27, Stephen Rebecca, 30, and Richard Patrick, 38, were intercepted by soldiers along Lokoja-Abuja Road with children between the ages of three and 13 crammed into an eight-seater bus marked JJN964XB,  NAPTIP said in a statement yesterday.

    Spokesperson Nneka Aniagoh said the suspects and victims were first handed over to the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) Lokoja, which later handed them over to NAPTIP.

    She said the victims were taken from Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State and moved to Ekpoma in Edo State as domestic helps.

    Aniagoh said the suspects claimed the victims’ parents gave consent for them to be given out as domestic helps, adding that the suspects and victims were from the same town.

    “They claimed that the parents of the 14 children gave consent to take them and send them to households for domestic labour.

    “The Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, expressed sincere appreciation to the officers of the Nigerian Army and the NIS for their contributory efforts in the interception, rescue and hand-over of the victims and suspects,” said Aniagoh.

    Quoting the DG, she said the national referral mechanism being put in place by NAPTIP and relevant agencies aimed to achieve synergy in stopping human trafficking.

    “Dame Okah-Donli takes this opportunity to warn the public that the Trafficking In Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, prohibits the employment of children below the age of 12 as domestic workers, and warns that those found culpable will be severely dealt with.

    “The NAPTIP DG says such acts fuel the incidence of child exploitative labour and the agency will not tolerate such abuse on our children. The suspects will definitely be arraigned upon completion of preliminary investigations,” Aniagoh said.

  • Army rescues 14 children from traffickers

    Soldiers have rescued 14 children aged three to 13 years from traffickers.

    The human traffickers, two women- Evelyn Jerry, 27, and Stephen Rebecca, 30, as well as a man, Richard Patrick, 38, were arrested and handed to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).

    A representative of the Press and Public Relations Unit of NAPTIP, Nneka Aniagoh, said this in a statement yesterday.

    She said the victims comprising nine females and five males were crammed into an eight-seater bus, Alhambra Sedan, with Plateau State registration number JJN 964XB, where they struggled for space, adding that they were taken from Riyom Local Government Area of Plateau State and heading for Ekpoma in Edo State.

    NAPTIP Director-General Dame Julie Okah-Donli thanked officers of the Army and Nigeria Immigration Services for their efforts in rescuing the victims.

    She told the public that the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015, prohibits the employment of children below the age of 12 as domestic workers, and warned that those found culpable would be severely dealt with.

     

  • Police rescue boy from traffickers’ torture

    The Police in Lagos have rescued an 11-year-old boy trafficked to the state for slavery.

    The victim identified simply as Tunde was said to have been subjected to series of physical abuses, by the person  who brought him from Cotonu in Benin Republic to Ikotun.

    It was gathered that about 15 policemen from Ikotun and Igando Divisions on Friday stormed the house the victim was being held after a report from the Child Protection Network (CPN).

    A woman whose identity was yet to be ascertained, was said to have resisted the policemen and CPN volunteers from entering her home until one of her children climbed upstairs and opened the door.

    According to the Coordinator of CPN, Ebenezer Omejalile, it took the team over four hours before the woman’s door was eventually opened by her son.

    He said: “Upon receiving this report, we went to Ikotun Police Station and two officers went with us to the woman’s address.

    “When we got there, we introduced ourselves to the woman and her son, stating our mission. The woman started shouting that we cannot come into her house for any reason until we tell her who reported her.

    “For the next four hours, we were still there. She locked her door. Igando poloce station was invited for reinforcement. About 15 policemen on uniform came to the place and she refused to open the door still.

    “The Police Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO) was informed and he tried to cajole the woman but she was still rude and refused to open the door.

    “So, some officers went to call the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) Igando and then, one of her sons, who was downstairs, climbed up and opened the door.”

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    Omejalile said the DPO interviewed the woman and recorded her statement, adding that she refused to follow the police to the station on grounds that she couldn’t move her legs.

    “Her son followed us. The young boy Tunde has been rescued and placed in public shelter. The police are investigating the case and we hope that the suspect would be charged to court.

    “It is clearly a child trafficking case across the border. The victim was subjected to all kinds of abuse.”

  • Oyo goes tough on human traffickers

    Oyo State Government has vowed to bring to book any culprit found culpable human trafficking in the state.

    This came to the fore during a meeting between the state government officials and stakeholders in the Travels and Tours industry at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in Ibadan during the week.

    The state government condemned the spate of trafficking especially women and girl-child, calling on parents, guardians, residents and its citizens to prioritize their values and desist from employing the services of visa fraudsters and traffickers in order to seek greener pastures.

    The state’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun decried the increase in human trafficking and the attendant unholy acts of slavery and prostitution, assuring that the government will not negate its responsibility of protecting the citizens of the state.

    He appealed to the governing body of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to collaborate with the state government in apprehending travel agencies and individuals who engage in human trafficking.

    Arulogun said: “These traffickers dangle juicy carrots of greener pastures at their would be victims but the victims end up coming back with harrowing experiences.  We owe it to the people to protect them from unpleasant experiences and this is why we are calling on all stakeholders to see to the end of this unholy act. We urge the media to verify the success stories of these so called travel tours before airing their commercials to save a lot of innocent souls,” Arulogun explained.

    Speaking, the National Vice President, NANTA, Mr. Dagunduro Olatokunbo called for urgent action in sensitizing the populace about the dangers involved in such journeys to the diaspora.

  • Oyo goes tough on human traffickers

    Oyo State Government has vowed to bring to book any culprit found culpable human trafficking in the state.

    This came to the fore during a meeting between the state government officials and stakeholders in the Travels and Tours industry at the Ministry of Information, Culture and Tourism in Ibadan during the week.

    The state government condemned the spate of trafficking especially women and girl-child, calling on parents, guardians, residents and its citizens to prioritize their values and desist from employing the services of visa fraudsters and traffickers in order to seek greener pastures.

    The state’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Toye Arulogun decried the increase in human trafficking and the attendant unholy acts of slavery and prostitution, assuring that the government will not negate its responsibility of protecting the citizens of the state.

    He appealed to the governing body of National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies (NANTA) and National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) to collaborate with the state government in apprehending travel agencies and individuals who engage in human trafficking.

    Arulogun said: “These traffickers dangle juicy carrots of greener pastures at their would be victims but the victims end up coming back with harrowing experiences.  We owe it to the people to protect them from unpleasant experiences and this is why we are calling on all stakeholders to see to the end of this unholy act. We urge the media to verify the success stories of these so called travel tours before airing their commercials to save a lot of innocent souls,” Arulogun explained.

    Speaking, the National Vice President, NANTA, Mr. Dagunduro Olatokunbo called for urgent action in sensitizing the populace about the dangers involved in such journeys to the diaspora.

  • Seven women rescued from ‘traffickers’

    The Lagos State Police Command has rescued seven women allegedly trafficked from Delta State for possible exportation.

    Progress Akpotu, 17; Florence Emonena, 35; Celina Abosa, 20; Tessy Augustine, 27; Glory Monday, 21; Gift Jacob, 25 and Lewisca Akalu, 20, were brought to the state by a woman identified simply as Madam Rita, who promised them good jobs and better lives.

    It was gathered that the victims were conveyed by a popular transporter with Rita, who abandoned them at the motor park in Mile II on Saturday.

    The agent, apparently realising that other passengers were suspicious of their movement, told the victims she wanted to buy airtime so she could call someone to get them, but did not return.

    The “confused” women were said to have been wandering the park, which prompted onlookers to contact the police.

    Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal said: “Information was received from a resident that some girls were seen at Agofure Motor Park in Mile II around 6 p.m last Saturday. They appeared lost, confused and claimed that one Rita lured them to Lagos.

    “Based on the information, detectives, led by Woman Inspector Ebun Anyanwu, were mobilised to the scene. We arrested a member of the syndicate who allegedly brought them to Lagos, Emmanuel Daniel, 30, We are working to arrest other members, including Rita.

    “Parents should be watchful. They should know the friends their children keep. They should investigate men who befriend their daughters with promises of job offer only to turn them to prostitutes or traffic them.”

    A victim, Abosa said: “I am a hair dresser in Delta State. A lady, called Madam Rita, saw me walking on the street in my home town in Delta State and told me she would give me a good hair dressing job in Lagos. I told my mother and she said I could go with her since the journey to Lagos would improve me and the family.

    “Madam Rita said she would get me a hairstylist job where I would be paid N20,0000 monthly. She paid for my fare to Lagos.

    “On the day of the journey, Madam Rita brought other girls and women to join us at the park. But when we arrived Lagos, she told us to wait at the park that she was going to buy a recharge card. When we waited for hours without seeing or hearing from her, we called her on the phone and she said she was in Warri in Delta State.

    “We were shocked that she brought us to Lagos and abandoned us at the park. Unknown to us, she fled after she saw that some policemen were interrogating us. I do not know that she had ulterior motives for us.”

     

  • Seven women rescued from ‘traffickers’

    The Lagos State Police Command has rescued seven women allegedly trafficked from Delta State for possible exportation.

    Progress Akpotu, 17; Florence Emonena, 35; Celina Abosa, 20; Tessy Augustine, 27; Glory Monday, 21; Gift Jacob, 25 and Lewisca Akalu, 20, were brought to the state by a woman identified simply as Madam Rita, who promised them good jobs and better lives.

    It was gathered that the victims were conveyed by a popular transporter with Rita, who abandoned them at the motor park in Mile II on Saturday.

    The agent, apparently realising that other passengers were suspicious of their movement, told the victims she wanted to buy airtime so she could call someone to get them, but did not return.

    The “confused” women were said to have been wandering the park, which prompted onlookers to contact the police.

    Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal said: “Information was received from a resident that some girls were seen at Agofure Motor Park in Mile II around 6 p.m last Saturday. They appeared lost, confused and claimed that one Rita lured them to Lagos.

    “Based on the information, detectives, led by Woman Inspector Ebun Anyanwu, were mobilised to the scene. We arrested a member of the syndicate who allegedly brought them to Lagos, Emmanuel Daniel, 30, We are working to arrest other members, including Rita.

    “Parents should be watchful. They should know the friends their children keep. They should investigate men who befriend their daughters with promises of job offer only to turn them to prostitutes or traffic them.”

    A victim, Abosa said: “I am a hair dresser in Delta State. A lady, called Madam Rita, saw me walking on the street in my home town in Delta State and told me she would give me a good hair dressing job in Lagos. I told my mother and she said I could go with her since the journey to Lagos would improve me and the family.

    “Madam Rita said she would get me a hairstylist job where I would be paid N20,0000 monthly. She paid for my fare to Lagos.

    “On the day of the journey, Madam Rita brought other girls and women to join us at the park. But when we arrived Lagos, she told us to wait at the park that she was going to buy a recharge card. When we waited for hours without seeing or hearing from her, we called her on the phone and she said she was in Warri in Delta State.

    “We were shocked that she brought us to Lagos and abandoned us at the park. Unknown to us, she fled after she saw that some policemen were interrogating us. I do not know that she had ulterior motives for us.”

     

  • Police raid suspected traffickers who arrange fake marriages

    Police on Tuesday staged a massive raid against suspected human traffickers in the German capital Berlin who are believed to have arranged fake marriages for Vietnamese migrants.

    “We have arrested the three main suspects and are searching several flats,’’ a spokesman for the police said.

    Some 200 officers from the federal and state police forces were involved in the raids from 6. a.m. (0400 GMT), described by the police on Twitter as a “strike against human traffickers.”

    Some 20 flats were searched in eastern districts of Berlin and in the commuter towns of Ahrensfelde and Panketal in Brandenburg on the north-eastern outskirts of the city.

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    “The members of the German-Vietnamese gang, which had 10 members at its core, are accused of arranging fake marriages between Vietnamese and German citizens.

    “The marriages were carried out in Denmark, after which the couple parted ways on return to Germany,’’ the police spokesman said.

    The Danish marriage, and with it the right to live in neighbouring EU member Germany, is believed to have cost the Vietnamese partner a five-figure sum.

    Police say they have evidence of 10 successful fake marriages and five fake paternity certificates.

    The three main suspects are two Vietnamese men aged between 35 and 57 and a 26-year-old German woman.