The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Oyo State Command, says it has nabbed five suspected human traffickers, who specialised in luring unsuspecting victims in Ibadan.
The NIS Comptroller in the state, Comptroller Mohammed Umar, made this known on Thursday while handing over the suspects to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) at its Headquarters in Ibadan.
Umar said that NIS and NAPTIP in the state had been collaborating in fighting against human trafficking and smuggling of migrants.
He said that the collaboration had yielded successes recorded in the arrest of the five suspects in Ibadan.
The comptroller said that NIS received a request from NAPTIP to jointly carry out a raid on the hideout of the suspects upon discovery of the illegal activities.
He said that the collaboration with NAPTIP, in carrying out raid on the hideout of the suspected human trafficking syndicates in Ibadan, initially led to the arrest of 10 suspects.
“Out of the 10 suspects arrested, we are able to establish that five are members of syndicates that are experts in luring mostly Ghanaians in disguise of bringing them to Nigeria, specifically Ibadan and prepare them for a package to enable them to travel to Canada.
“Because of that enticement, these victims submitted themselves and came to Ibadan, only to find out that what was sold to them was a scam.
“The victims came to Ibadan with the intention of going to Canada only to be handed down with business in the form of network marketing.
“Because the victims felt they have been deceived and most likely could lead to force labour, which is not their intention of coming to Nigeria, they complained to NAPTIP.
“NAPTIP being alive to its responsibility, approached us and we jointly carry out the raid and now we are handling over five suspects to them,” Umar said.
The comptroller said that human trafficking had been going on for a while in Nigeria adding that the service would continue to halt them and ensure the perpetrators are brought to book.
He called on Nigerians not to fall victim because of the situation in the country and the world generally and their eagerness to survive.
The comptroller urged Nigerians to always be diligent while seeking job opportunities in order not to fail victim of human trafficking.
Receiving the suspects, the Head of NAPTIP in Oyo State, Mr Augustine Akanya, said the that the agency would carry out diligent investigation on the suspects and would be prosecuted, if found guilty.
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