Following a crackdown on organised human trafficking operations by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), 25 women suspected of being victims of labour exploitation en route to Saudi Arabia have been rescued in Abuja, the nation’s capital.
The operation was part of a decisive crackdown on trafficking syndicates that specialise in the recruitment and trafficking of Nigerians to Middle East countries.
The unsuspecting victims were picked up in front of a popular hotel in Wuse II, Abuja, where they had gathered while awaiting their trafficker, according to NAPTIP’s spokesman Vincent Adekoye.
The agency has also commenced a manhunt for a popular travel agency suspected of playing a prominent role in the recruitment of the victims.
It explained that the operation was a continuation of renewed surveillance activities and monitoring in major state capitals across the country.
NAPTIP has been on high alert after its Director General, Binta Adamu Bello, ordered an increase in monitoring a few weeks ago.
The directive came in response to a surge in trafficking that targeted vulnerable people in remote villages and communities.
In addition to the increased surveillance, NAPTIP also enhanced its collaboration with other law enforcement agencies and partners along high-risk routes.
During their interrogation, the victims, who were between 17 and 43 years old, said they were recruited from Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina States with the promise of jobs as domestic workers in Saudi Arabia.
One of the victims said: “Some people came to our village and told my parent 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.”
NAPTIP revealed that a good number of the victims confessed they were in Abuja for the first time and had become stranded.
Bello frowned at the activities of traffickers who continue to prey on the vulnerability of victims from remote parts of the country.
She warned that some trafficking gangs now use Abuja as a centralised coordination point for their operations.
She 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.
“On the umbrella body of the Travel Agency, 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 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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