Immigration rescues 8 trafficked persons in Jigawa

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has rescued eight victims of human trafficking in Jigawa State.

The NIS Comptroller in the state, Mr. Samson Agada, stated this at a news conference on Friday in Dutse.

He said the victims aged between 16 and 24 were intercepted by the agency’s operatives at Dutse Motor Park in the Dutse local government area of the state on Wednesday.

The comptroller added that the victims comprised six females and two males.

Agada said: “Six of the victims were from Benue, while two were from Abia and Ebonyi states.

“Upon their interception at Dutse motor park and subsequent profiling and interrogation, the young victims told us that they were told to inform any security agent that they were in Jigawa to act as vendors for supplement drugs for a company called New Life International.

“On further interrogation, we discovered that their agent only used this deception to get them trafficked across the border from Jigawa to the Niger Republic and onward to North Africa where they board them in a ship via the Atlantic Ocean to Europe.

The comptroller revealed that three persons behind the arrangement had been arrested by the operatives.

“The victims and the three suspected agents will soon be handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Person (NAPTIP) for further action.

“We are therefore using this opportunity to appeal to all parents to watch over their children from being deceived by such agents who make bogus deceits to young children for a better life abroad, not minding the harsh consequences of going through the illegal routes with attendance hazards,” he added.

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