The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says it has raided a hotel near the Abuja International Airport and rescued suspected victims of human trafficking.
This is contained in a statement by Mr Vincent Adekoye, the agency press officer, and made available to newsmen.
Adekoye said that the raid on the hotel located in the Zamaru community, led to the rescue of seven suspected victims of human trafficking who were being prepared to be trafficked to Baghdad and Iraq for exploitation.
He said that the manager of the hotel was also arrested during the raid, adding that the exercise followed credible intelligence by stakeholders who noticed strange movement around the premises.
He said that a critical profiling of the rescued victims revealed that six of them were deceived and recruited from Lagos State, while the other one was from Delta.
He said that the victims were deceived with a promise of a caregiving job in Iraq and were signed off into slavery by two sets of recruiters whose identities were unknown to them.
”They told me that I will do a house help job in Baghdad and that I will receive good salary every month. I believed them because I thought Baghdad was in another country.
“They didn’t tell me I was going to work in Iraq,” Adekoye quoted one of the victims as saying while narrating her ordeal in the hands of the recruiter.
Reacting to the development, the Director General, NAPTIP, Hajia Binta Adamu-Bello, represented by Mr Josiah Emerole, Director, Research and Programme Development, expressed displeasure over the incident.
Adamu-Bello recalled that the agency had in the last few months intercepted no fewer than 60 suspected victims of human trafficking.
She said that victims were intercepted at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, on their way to some of the volatile countries in the Middle East.
She noted that the roles of some ”unscrupulous” service providers in the exploitation and trafficking of Nigerians for recruitment purposes was becoming worrisome.
She warned that the agency would henceforth invoke the relevant provisions of its Law to prosecute erring entities.
”It is sad the way some of these service providers in the country, aid and abet the recruitment, transportation, transfers, and harbouring of Nigerians who are victims of human trafficking
”The hotel is believed to be a muster point for victims of human trafficking to some of the notorious destination countries.
“The Manager of the hotel is being quizzed and we have also intensified the manhunt for other members of the trafficking gang working in collaboration with other criminal elements in Iraq.
”The suspected victims are trafficked from different parts of the country and harboured in the hotel.
“These victims are further briefed on how to evade arrest at any point by disguising themselves in various forms and answering questions from Law enforcement Officers at the airport.
”Because of the unpatriotic roles of some of these service providers, the agency will henceforth invoke the appropriate section of its Law to prosecute them,” Adamu-Bello said.
(NAN)
