The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps has rescued 15 minors allegedly trafficked and sold for N2m each by a suspected member of a human trafficking syndicate in Nasarawa State.
The NSCDC Public Relations Officer, Babawale Afolabi, disclosed this at a news briefing at the corps’ headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
Afolabi said the suspect allegedly posed as an official of the National Council of Child Rights Advocate and deceived the parents of the children into handing them over to him.
“Under the guise of operating an NGO and orphanage programme called the Back to School Project, he lured willing, less privileged parents into releasing their children with promises of free education,” Afolabi said.
He said the Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad, led by Commander Dandaura Appollos, carried out the rescue operation.
Afolabi said 15 of the 16 trafficked children from Kama Madaki and Gudindi Mada communities in Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State were rescued from their alleged buyers.
“Through advanced field tracking, technical intelligence and multi-state tactical sweeps, operatives of the CG’s SIS tracked down the buyers who were from different locations in the country,” he said.
According to him, three of the victims were rescued in Anambra, Imo and Enugu states, while 12 others were rescued in a coordinated operation across eastern transit routes.
He added that three suspected buyers, comprising one man and two women, had been arrested in connection with the case.
Afolabi said the NSCDC maintained a zero-tolerance policy towards crime and human trafficking.
He added that the suspects found culpable would be prosecuted after the completion of the corps’ investigation.
