The Department of State Services (DSS) in collaboration with Kano Hisbah Board has successfully uncovered and dismantled a child trafficking syndicate in the state.
Men of the Kano Hisbah had apprehended a 17-year-old girl and rescued a 4-year-old girl named Aisha, who was abducted from Nguru in Yobe State.
The arrest of the teenager and subsequent handing over to the DSS led to the arrest of her sponsor by the secret police’s operatives.
The DSS office in Kano revealed that its Hisbah officials handed over Aisha to them after the arrest of the teenager holding her captive on Tuesday.
Hisbah officials arrested the 17-year-old girl, whose name has been withheld, following suspicion that she had no legitimate connection to the child.
Following the handover, the DSS stated that they were able to trace and apprehend the mastermind behind the child trafficking operation.
“We arrested the real kingpin in the abduction of children from around neighbouring states to Kano and sold in the Southern part where it becomes difficult to trace them,” the DSS said.
The teenage girl confessed during interrogation that she was introduced to the child trafficking scheme by a man who sold groundnuts near her home.
According to her, it was the man that convinced her to abduct Aisha, assuring her that nothing would happen to her. The kingpin admitted that Aisha’s kidnapping was the third act he had orchestrated from Nguru.
“I normally collect the abducted children and pay off the abductors in Kano before I move on with my partners,” the kingpin confessed.
He also admitted to being a member of a cartel that steals children across states.
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