Joy Anyim
A four-man syndicate, allegedly responsible for trafficking a 13-year-old girl, John Agnes, from Akwa -Ibom State to Lagos for prostitution, have been arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Police Command.
The teenage girl it was learnt, was rescued alongside 23 other girls at a shanty in Railway, Abattoir area of Agege in Lagos, on Thursday.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the suspects, Okon Felix, 32, Michael Edet Etim, 22, Victor Asuquo, 35, and Goodness Ebiefie, 32, recruit the girls from Akwa -Ibom state, with a promise to give them maid and sale representative jobs with attractive pays in Lagos.
READ ALSO: https://www.thexpressng.com/2020/05/14/babachir-lawals-grass-cutting-scam-suit-adjourned-to-june-10/
However, the suspects who were notorious for the act, met their waterloo, after one Nwana Edet Offong, reported that her younger sister, Offiong Mary, 19, was missing in Akwa-Ibom state.
Investigation into the whereabouts of Mary, led to the discovery of the syndicate, who source for girls from humble background and entice them with fat paying jobs in Lagos.
According to the Lagos Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Elkana Bala, who confirmed the arrest of the suspects on Thursday, the rescued girls were mainly from Oron in Akwa -Ibom state.
The PPRO said the girls were between age 13 and 27, and paid N1,000 daily to their traffickers.
Bala said : “ Information about the activities of the traffickers reached the police in Lagos, after a missing girl in Akwa-Ibom, was said to be in Lagos. Our operatives swung into action. She was found and other girls who were also declared missing in Akwa-Ibom state were found.
“The girls were rescued at a shanty in Abattoir area of Lagos. They were trafficked from Akwa -Ibom to Lagos, they were forced into prostitution, where men patronise them for sexual pleasure, paying between N1,000 and N2,000. The girls were also forced to pay N1,000 daily to their traffickers. The girls were between age 13 and 27.”
