NAPTIP rescues 25 victims in Abuja en route to Middle East

By Favour Ulebor, Abuja

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has disrupted organised human trafficking activities and rescued 25 women suspected to be victims of labour exploitation en route to Saudi Arabia.

In a press release signed by NAPTIP Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, on Monday, the Agency said the operation was part of a decisive crackdown on trafficking syndicates that specialise in the recruitment and trafficking of Nigerians to Middle East countries.

According to the statement, the unsuspecting victims were picked up in front of a popular hotel in Wuse II, Abuja, where they had gathered while awaiting their trafficker.

The Agency noted that it has also commenced a manhunt for a popular travel agency suspected of playing a prominent role in the recruitment of the victims.

The Agency explained that the operation was a continuation of renewed surveillance activities and monitoring in major state capitals across the country.

It recalled that NAPTIP’s Director General, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, had a few weeks ago ordered operatives to intensify monitoring following a surge in trafficking activities targeting vulnerable persons from remote villages and communities.

The statement further said the directive was in addition to enhanced collaboration with sister law enforcement agencies and partners along red-flag routes.

During interrogation, the victims, aged between 17 and 43 years, said they were recruited from Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina States with promises of employment in Saudi Arabia as domestic workers.

One of the victims said: “Some people came to our village and told my parent that they would assist me to travel abroad to work as a house help in Saudi Arabia. They assured us that the job there will pay us very well, and we will be able to come and take care of our parents and families. They asked us to come and wait for them here so that they will give us the travel document and the necessary instructions on how to go.

“They have not given us any documents, like an International Passport and a visa, and we are worried that none of them is here to attend to us as they promised.”

NAPTIP revealed that a good number of the victims confessed they were in Abuja for the first time and had become stranded.

Speaking on the development, the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, frowned at the activities of traffickers who continue to feed on the vulnerability of victims from remote parts of the country.

She warned that some trafficking gangs now use Abuja as a centralised coordination point for their operations.

She said: “I wish to alert our partners and stakeholders to the new modus operandi of a human trafficking syndicate that uses the Federal Capital Territory as a muster point for their nefarious activities.

“You will recall that a few months ago, some victims were intercepted and rescued from a hotel located close to the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, just as they were about to be trafficked to some destination countries in the Middle East. Now, we have intercepted another 25 women.

“The sad aspect of the whole thing is that they excitedly jumped at the offer from the traffickers without knowing the harrowing experience and the level of exploitation that awaits them in the destination country. Well, the good news is that we have successfully disrupted this trafficking process, and we are closing in on the Agency whose name features prominently in the whole thing.

“Let me use this medium to call on the umbrella body of the Travel Agency, the Association of Recruiters, Licensed Placement Agency of Nigeria, and other regulatory bodies, to rise to their responsibility of regulating the activities of their members.

“The mindless exploitation of victims of human trafficking in those destination countries remains a source of serious concern to NAPTIP, so this scenario must stop.”

The post NAPTIP rescues 25 victims in Abuja en route to Middle East appeared first on Vanguard News.