Border patrol ‘rescued 80 children from traffickers’ in two months

The Joint Border Patrol Team (JBPT) says it rescued 80 children from suspected traffickers in the north-central zone between January and March.

The patrol team comprises security operatives from Nigeria, Republic of Benin and the Niger Republic.

Olugboyega Peters, the coordinator of JBPT, Sector 3, spoke with journalists on Wednesday in Ilorin, Kwara state.

He said the team, during the period under review, seized 128 items, adding that the duty payable of some of the confiscated goods was up to N76 million.

“Items seized were 1,584 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 48 used vehicles, seven motorcycles, 1,864 pieces of 25-litre kegs of petrol, 18 similar kegs of diesel and 21 bales of second-hand clothing, ” he said.

“Other seized items were 86 pairs of men’s shoes, 20 pairs of women shoes, 21 bags of 50kg foreign sugar, five locally-made Dane guns, Jack knife, axes, cutlasses and seven other drums of petrol.

“The remaining seizures and arrests were three sets of human traffickers with 80 children already handed over to Immigration and the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.’’ 

He said six illegal immigrants were also arrested while 948 cartons of foreign tomato paste were confiscated.

Peters said more seizures were domiciled at various locations within the zone that could not be transferred to the Sector 3 headquarters in Ilorin due to distance and logistics challenges.

“People with criminal intentions should immediately desist from such acts because operatives of the sector are well mobilised, backed by extant laws and shall remain resolute at enforcing the law without fear or intimidation, ” he said.

“To this end, I will like to thank the office of the national security adviser and the entire management of JBPT at the national level for creating an atmosphere conducive to successes recorded so far.

“We will continue to partner with other security agencies and stakeholders to make the sector and indeed the country a safe place to dwell in.”