National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in its ongoing crackdown on human trafficking syndicates, intercepted 25 women suspected to be victims of labour exploitation en route to Saudi Arabia.
The agency, in a press statement on Monday by its press officer, Vincent Adekoye, said the clampdown was part of efforts to disrupt organised trafficking activities by some criminally inclined agencies that specialised in the recruitment and trafficking of Nigerians to destination in the Middle East.
Adekoye stated that the development came just as the agency commenced a manhunt for the owner and workers of a popular travel agency suspected of playing a prominent role in the recruitment of the victims.
He said the unsuspecting victims were picked up in front of a popular hotel in the highbrow area of Wuse II, Abuja, where they had gathered, awaiting their trafficker.
Adekoye added that the operation was a continuation of renewed surveillance activities and monitoring embarked upon by the agency, targeting some black spots within several major state capitals across the country.
Adekoye recalled that Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello, had a few weeks ago, ordered operatives of the agency to intensify monitoring in some state capitals across Nigeria in response to the reported surge in the activities of human traffickers who now recruited from remote villages and communities for exploitation.
He stated that the directive was in addition to the enhanced working relationship and collaboration with sister law enforcement agencies and partners along some of the red flag routes.
Adekoye revealed that during interrogation, the victims, whose ages ranged from 17 to 43 years, claimed they were recruited from Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states by some persons with a promise to travel to Saudi Arabia to take up jobs as domestic workers, specifically house help.
He quoted one of the victims to have said, “Some people came to our village and told my parents 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.”
He said a good number of the victims confessed that they were in Abuja for the first time, and they were stranded.
Speaking on the development, Director General of NAPTIP, Bello, frowned on the activities of the traffickers who fed on the vulnerability of victims in remote parts of the country. He warned that some trafficking gangs now used Abuja as a centralised coordination point for trafficking.
Bello 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 travel agencies, 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 NAPTIP director-general added, “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.”
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