Police rescue 6 teenage victims of human trafficking in Edo

Friday, August 6, 2021 9:27 pm

The human trafficking victims rescued by the Edo State Government

By Jethro Ibileke/Benin

Six teenage victims of human trafficking have been rescued by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping and Cyber-Crime Unit of Edo State Police Command.

The victims, all girls, aged 16 to 19, were allegedly traveling to Abidjan in Cote d’Ivoire, in a Nissan Vannet bus, with registration number: Delta ASB 68 YF, when they intercepted around Isihor community in Benin City, on Benin-Lagos Road.

A statement by the Command’s PRO, SP Kontons Bello, stated that the Command’s tactical team, led by its commander, SP. Richard Balogun, acted on credible information, intercepted the vehicle, arrested the suspected human trafficker and rescued six girls.

Names of the victims were given as Success Okogbowa (17), Gift Osabuohien (18), Edurance Edigho (18), Gift Edigho (17) Oghayerio (19) and Happiness Oliver (16).

The victims were being led on the journey by their suspected trafficker, 20-year-old Innocent Godfrey.

Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Phillip Ogbadu, has ordered that the victims be taken to police cottage hospital for treatment, before they will be transferred to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), for further investigation and prosecution.