Eight victims of human trafficking rescued in Jigawa

The Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Jigawa State Command reported saving eight victims of human trafficking.

Samson Agada, the state’s comptroller for the NIS, made this announcement on Friday at a news conference in Dutse.

Agada claimed that command members had spotted the victims at a Dutse parking lot in the Dutse Local Government Area on Wednesday.

He said the victims, who ranged in age from 16 to 24, were detained at 7 a.m. on May 5 while trying to enter Europe.

The controller also mentioned that there are six women and two men in the group.

He claims that of the eight fatalities, six were from the state of Benue and two each were from the states of Abia and Ebonyi.

After being profiled and interrogated, the young victims revealed us they had been instructed to tell any security agent that they were in Jigawa to sell dietary supplements for a firm called New Life International.

Further questioning revealed that “their agent only used this deception to get them trafficked across the border from Jigawa to the Republic of Niger and onward to North Africa, where they would board them on a ship via the Atlantic Ocean to Europe,” as stated by the comptroller.

Agada also revealed that the command has arrested three people they believe were responsible for arranging the victims’ transportation.

The victims and the three suspects, he said, would shortly be turned over to NAPTIP for further investigation.

“We are using this opportunity to appeal to all parents to watch over their children from being deceived by such agents who make bogus deceits to young children about a better life abroad, not minding the harsh consequences of going through the illegal routes with attendance hazards,” he said.