The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has disclosed that it had rescued 71 victims and arrested three suspected human traffickers in Kano state.
The zonal commander in charge of Kano zone, Mr. Shehu Umar, made the disclosure in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Friday in Kano.
Umar said the NAPTIP Joint Board Task Force (JBTF) gathered intelligence on the movement of the victims and suspects.
“On receiving information the agency conducted three operations between July 15 and 19, which led to the arrest of the suspects and rescued of the victims.
“We apprehended three suspects comprising one Nigerian and two Cameroonians who are between the age bracket of 21 and 36. The victims and suspects were apprehended enroute Algeria, Morocco and Libya,” he said.
Umar said further that 18 out of the 71 rescued victims were Cameroonians, comprising 14 males and four females, while 19 Nigerians comprised 11 males and eight females.
He also said the Cameroonians would be handed over to the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for further investigations and repatriation.
The commander said the Agency had, on July 19, received transfer of 34 victims of human trafficking from the NIS, Katsina state Command, comprising 24 females and 10 males.
“The victims think they can move out of the country freely without documents, without clear understanding of what they are going to do outside the country.
“The traffickers promised greener pasture to deceive the victims.”
The commander cautioned Nigerians on embarking on overseas journeys without specific reasons for doing so.
