Following a six-hour raid by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, which led to the rescue of 24 suspected victims of human trafficking, one of the victims has vowed to sue her father for deceiving her into being trafficked.
The victim claimed that she was told by her father that his friend had a job for her at a supermarket in Baghdad, and was totally convinced she was going to better her life until her rescue by NAPTIP.
“My father told me that his friend has a job for me at a supermarket in Baghdad. He did not tell me that it is in Iraq.
“I know that Iraq is not a good place to work for now due to the crisis there, but I did not know that Baghdad is in Iraq. I thank the DG and her officers for rescuing me,” the victim said.
Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, who led a high-powered special operation team to the airport following a tip-off, revealed that among the suspected human traffickers arrested was a retired senior uniformed officer with one of the foremost law enforcement agencies in Nigeria, who is alleged to be a prominent member of the trafficking syndicate operating within the South West region of Nigeria.
In a statement by the National Press Officer of the agency on Wednesday, Bello said: “We observed that the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport is becoming a comfort zone for these traffickers, and that is why we have decided to shift attention to this airport.
“We will sustain this raid until they stop this unpatriotic and illicit trade in human beings.”
Expressing confidence in her team following the operation, she said: “We were able to arrest five suspected members of the trafficking gang who have been recruiting and trafficking our citizens to various tension-soaked countries, especially in the Middle East, for exploitation,” the DG said.
Bello explained that the victims, whose ages range between 15 and 26 years, were recruited from Kano, Katsina, Oyo, Ondo, and Rivers States, and were heading to Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Afghanistan.
The DG pointed out that a good number of the victims could not communicate in any other language apart from their local dialect, and most did not even know the location of their intended country of destination.
“They told my mother that they were taking me to Europe, where I would work and earn dollars. My parents were happy and they allowed me to follow them,” another victim narrated after the DG explained, with facts, what awaited them at their final destinations after being successfully trafficked.
Speaking further on the development, Bello expressed sadness over the activities of suspected human traffickers and unregistered labour recruiters, who have continued to deceive, recruit, and traffic Nigerians for various forms of exploitation.
“I was amazed that a father, who is a retired law enforcement officer of senior cadre, deceived his daughter and packaged her to be trafficked to Iraq for exploitation.
“This is incredibly unbelievable. All of them will be thoroughly investigated, and they will face the law.”
The NAPTIP boss commended the support of sister agencies at the airport, including the Director-General of the Federal Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport Manager, among others.
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