The Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, Lagos Border Patrol Command at Seme, in Badagry, has intercepted a six-month-old baby and three other children, suspected to be victims of human trafficking.
Comptroller Peter Adache, the Controller of the Command, who disclosed this while speaking with newsmen in Badagry on Friday, said the victims were intercepted with their traffickers – a couple.
Adache said the victims were intercepted by operatives on Monday around 1.30 p.m., along Kankon Owode Road in Badagry.
According to the controller, they were traveling to Burkina Faso, through the Republic of Benin, without any relevant documents.
“None of them was in possession of any travel documents when they were intercepted at Owode Border,” he said.
Adache said that during interrogation, it was revealed that one of the suspected traffickers, who is a food vendor and citizen of Burkina Faso, lured the victims to travel with her to the country.
“The three ladies decided to follow her because she promised to give them a good job and good salary.
“She called her husband, who is a citizen of Benin Republic, and they arranged how to transport the three ladies and the child to Burkina Faso.
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“The traveling expenses and feeding for the 6 persons were paid by the couple,” he said.
The controller said that the victims would be handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, to help reunite them with their families.
“It is a painful situation and under this situation, we cannot in any way look away.
“I have been directed by the Assistant Controller General of Immigration in charge of Zone A to hand them over to NAPTIP.
“The Lagos Border Patrol command of NIS will continue to ensure compliance with immigration rules and regulations and equally ensure the protection of Nigerians and the reintegration of victims to their families,” he said.
One of the victims, who is a mother of a six-month-old child, said she and the child were abandoned by her husband, hence her decision to travel with the couple to survive hardship.
“Shortly after I delivered my child, my husband left me alone to take care of the child.
“Since there is no help from any quarters, when she (the suspected trafficker, approached me to go to Burkina Faso, I agreed because she said I would make money and do good jobs there.
“The journey had been tedious until we were arrested by immigration officers, I want to go back home,” she said.
The victims were later handed over to Mr Ibraheem Ogunbiyi, the Assistant Director and Head, the Counseling and Rehabilitation Unit of NAPTIP, Lagos Zonal Command.
