Plateau State has recently been identified as a hotspot for girl child trafficking, particularly children between the ages of two and ten years.
This development has portrayed the state in a bad light.
The chairperson of the Plateau State Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission, Olivia Dazyem, also revealed that more than 100 trafficking children were rescued in the last year.
According to her, the insecurity challenges which bedevilled the state for some years have left people vulnerable to the point that there are more widows and orphans in the state.
LEADERSHIP investigation revealed that most of the children taken in such arrangements end up being murdered, abused and, in most cases, have their organs harvested for sale.
It will be recalled the State Police Command recently busted another child trafficking syndicate after a credible intelligence tip from the Joint taskforce who apprehended a woman named Nanman Pungtel at old airport junction Jos.
It was gathered that the suspect was found with 3 kids who she couldn’t account for. Further investigation led to the arrest of the mastermind of the trafficking operations, Pastor Dayo Bernard of End Time Army Ministry Bukuru, on the same night.
Pastor Bernard had his church around Bukuru Low-cost in Jos South LGA. The police have sealed it for further investigation.
The operation led to the rescue of five children between the ages of two and four years abducted from various homes in the Kwande district of Qua’anpan LGA and the subsequent arrest of other members of the syndicate identified as Rita Agboeze, Victoria Ugwu, and Peter Ukwuani.
However, the Kingpin and principal suspect, Pastor Dayo, confessed to having abducted and sold 13 Plateau children at varying prices ranging from N350,000 to N750,000, all of whom have been recovered by the police and reunited with their families.
Pastor Bernard informed the parents that he had an orphanage home and convinced them to release their children to him for sponsorship.
In the same, in January this year, the state joint task force on child trafficking intercepted a child trafficker who lured underaged children from Langtang South local government area of the state.
They were intercepted at a Lagos park in Jos, destined to be ‘way billed’ to Lagos to work for an unknown madam. Mrs Manwor Ayuba, the kingpin, has been arrested, and the children have been reunited with their families.
