The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has intercepted 13 females suspected to be victims of human trafficking en route Baghdad, Iraq for sexual and labour exploitation.
NAPTIP said the victims whose ages range between 19 and 39 years old were deceived and recruited by some faceless unregistered labour recruiters who are suspected to be agents of a larger criminal labour recruiting gang operating between Nigeria and some Middle East countries.
NAPTIP’s spokesman, Vincent Adekoye said the victims were incepted at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport, Abuja, in collaboration with partner agencies shortly before departing for Iraq.
Meanwhile, operative of the agency have sealed up a popular Three Stars Hotel located in Kwali, Kwali Area Council of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja where 11 underage girls suspected of sexual expedition were rescued.
The owner of the hotel was arrested while other supporting staff escaped.
The development came barely one month after NAPTIP burst a private apartment located inside one of the highbrow estates in the heart of Abuja and rescued nine pregnant girls suspected to be victims of human trafficking.
Adekoye said interception of the Iraq-bound girls followed a tip-off by some concerned partners who noticed the unusual movement of some unknown faces at the departure lounge of the Airport in the company of some timidly looking girls all chorusing the same answer to different questions about their destination, and immediately alerted the Agency.
Speaking on the incident, the Director-General of NAPTIP, Binta Bello expressed displeasure over the level of deceit by the traffickers and called on parents and guardian to always be careful of fake promises for their children and wards.
“The case at hand is pathetic because these girls were deceived and recruited for a supposed job in Baghdad by unlicensed labour recruiters who are not known to any constituted authority in Nigeria.
“This implies that should anything happen to these girls; we will not be able to hold anyone responsible, because they are undocumented labourers. Also, they were issued 60 days visa and yet signed a labour agreement of 2 years with them.
“The implication of this is that as soon as the visa expires, they are at the mercy of the master and lose all legal rights to demand anything including their legitimate salary.
“Investigation revealed that they will be paid a sum of 250 dollars as monthly salary by their tax master out of which they will remit 4 months’ salary to the agent here in Nigeria and another huge sum to the agent in Iraq,” Bello said.
