The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has arrested five suspected human traffickers and rescued 24 victims during a special operation at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.
NAPTIP’s Director General, Binta Adamu Bello, confirmed the arrests in a statement issued by the agency’s spokesperson, Vincent Adekoye, on Wednesday.
Among those arrested was a retired senior officer of a Nigerian law enforcement agency, alleged to be a key member of a trafficking syndicate operating in the South West.
Operation Details
The operation followed a tip-off about suspected trafficking activities at the airport. NAPTIP operatives disrupted the syndicate after nearly six hours of surveillance and enforcement.
The victims, aged between 15 and 26, were recruited from Kano, Katsina, Oyo, Ondo, and Rivers States. They were being trafficked to Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Afghanistan.
Some of the victims could not speak any language apart from their local dialects, while others were unaware of their exact destinations.
One of the rescued girls revealed she was deceived by her father, a retired police officer, who told her she was being offered a supermarket job in Baghdad. “If that is what awaits me there, I will not go,” she said after being shown video clips of Nigerians stranded or maltreated abroad.
DG Reacts
Bello condemned the syndicate’s activities, describing it as “unpatriotic and illicit trade in human beings.” She expressed shock that a father would traffic his own daughter.
“I am impressed with the outcome of the operation today because we were able to arrest five suspected members of the trafficking gang that have been recruiting and trafficking our citizens to various tension-soaked countries, especially in the Middle East,” she said.
She commended the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), the Department of State Services (DSS), immigration officials, security personnel, and airline operators for their collaboration during the operation.
Bello assured Nigerians that NAPTIP will sustain its crackdown on traffickers, particularly at the Abuja airport, which she said has become a “comfort zone” for syndicates.
