The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Seme Command, says it has arrested a suspected human trafficker and smuggler in Seme, Lagos State.
The command’s Controller, Comptroller Joshua Ajisafe, made this known on Wednesday in Lagos.
Ajisafe said that the suspect specialised in tricking young girls with a promise of providing legitimate well-paid jobs to them in the Republic of Benin.
Comptroller Joshua Ajisafe, Nigeria Immigration Service, Seme Area Controller.
He said the suspect used to take advantage of the unsuspecting girls’ innocence to put them into prostitution and sex slavery.
“On Oct. 16, our officers in Seme intercepted three young girls (names withheld) from Kaduna State.
“Upon interrogation, it was revealed that they were Nigerian ladies, who had fallen victims of human trafficking.
“They had luckily escaped from their captor and were trying to cross the border back to their homes in Nigeria.
“It was discovered that the arrested smuggler deceitfully took them out of Nigeria to Cotonou for prostitution,’’ Ajisafe said.
He said that whenever the suspect’s victims attempt to escape, she would lay debt bondage on them.
“In case any of them want to elope or report her to security agents, she would cut their pubic hair, fingernails, armpit hairs and threatened them with lunacy.
“These girls would, against their own will, agree to prostitution and sex slavery.
“The woman would further promise them freedom after each of them has paid her a huge sum of money through the prostitution business,’’ the comptroller said.
He said that the three victims were able to escape from the hotel rooms where they were kept when the suspect travelled back to Nigeria “to deceitfully recruit another set of girls for trafficking.
“Our intelligence team swung into action and made all necessary investigation to apprehend the suspect.
“In synergy with the police in the Benin Republic, within five days, we were able to arrest the suspect, who had subjected many Nigerian girls to prostitution in a hotel in the Republic of Benin,’’ Ajisafe said.
The comptroller said the suspect had been handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further necessary action.