Police rescue 10 underage girls allegedly trafficked for prostitution
… arrest 2 suspects
The Lagos State Police Command has rescued 10 teenage girls allegedly being trafficked to some West African countries for prostitution at the Mazamaza area of the state.
The state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), SP Benjamin Hundeyin, in a statement yesterday said the teenagers were rescued by the crack squad of the command located at Gbagada area of the state.
He said the command got intelligence report that a syndicate, who specialises in trafficking under aged girls, was planning to move some girls out of the country.
After receiving the information, the squad went into action to track the activities of the syndicate, noting that within one week, two suspects were arrested, while 10 young girls, between the ages of 16 and 23 were rescued.
Hundeyin, said the girls were brought by the suspects from Imo, Abia, Ebonyi, Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Ogun and Benin Republic.
The police officers, who were at the point of departure, intercepted them at Mazamaza area of Mile 2 along the Lagos-Badagry Expressway when there bus was about to move.
He said that the families of the girls have been contacted and they will be reunited with them as soon as possible.
Police are on the trail of other suspects and those arrested will be charged to court on completion of investigation.
Meanwhile, some of the rescued girls who spoke with journalists said that they were promised lucrative jobs in some of the West African countries.
Among the rescued victims, two of them were of same parents from Imo, while two others were also of same parents from Abia.
One of the suspects (name withheld), who claimed to be an international driver, said he was requested by one Ghana based Nigerian woman to bring the girls for her, a job he has been doing for about two years.
He said he had transported many girls more than four times from Nigeria to the woman trafficker who operates a restaurant in Ghana and said that he was aware that some of the girls were being used for prostitution.
The suspect claimed he always paid 1,000 CFA Franc to cross each girl at the Benin Republic Boarder, while they pay N1,000 to Nigeria Immigration officials to take the water route.
