The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says it has arrested two human traffickers — Waukomis Chidebere Chukwu and Joseph Okoi Nka— in Abuja.
Speaking at a press briefing on Friday, Fatima Waziri-Azi, NAPTIP director general, said the agency arrested the two men who are members of a human trafficking syndicate at about 11 am in Abuja on June 9.
Waziri-Azi said the traffickers specialise in moving Nigerian girls, between the ages of 16 and 26, to India for sexual exploitation and possible organ harvesting.
The NAPTIP DG said the suspects were arrested after several days of undercover works by operatives of the agency.
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She said two female victims, aged 16 and 22, were rescued a few minutes before being taken to the embassy.
Waziri-Azi said the two girls narrated pathetic stories of how they were lured by the suspected human traffickers who forced them to swear an oath of allegiance at two shrines located in Delta and Imo states.
“One of the victims also revealed that her very close friend who was already trafficked to India was being subjected to having sex with a minimum of 10 men a day, a situation that was giving her sleepless nights before being rescued by the operatives of NAPTIP,” NAN quoted Waziri-Azi as saying.
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The NAPTIP DG said the suspects, who operate a mobile tour company at the time of their arrest, were in possession of 28 passports of different nationalities, including Ghana, the Republic of Benin, and Niger Republic among others.
She said laptops, phones, 10 letterhead papers of different companies, as well as other equipment relating to the commission of the crime were recovered from the suspects.
She added that the agency has also placed the hotel that harboured the victims on red alert as monies were remotely paid on behalf of the victims.
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