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A suspected member of a human trafficking syndicate has allegedly abducted 15 minors in Nasarawa State and sold them for N30 million.
The Public Relations Officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Babawale Afolabi, disclosed this at the corps’ headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
According to Afolabi, the suspect allegedly posed as an official of the National Council of Child Rights Advocates and deceived the children’s parents into handing them over.
He said the suspect lured the parents with promises of free education, posing as the founder of a non-governmental organisation and orphanage programme known as the Back to School Project.
“Under the guise of operating an NGO and orphanage programme called the Back to School Project, he lured willing, less privileged parents into releasing their children with promises of free education,” Afolabi said.
The Commandant General’s Special Intelligence Squad, led by Commander Dandaura Appollos, subsequently launched a rescue operation.
Afolabi said 15 of the 16 children allegedly trafficked from Kama Madaki and Gudindi Mada communities in Kokona Local Government Area of Nasarawa State were rescued from their alleged buyers.
“Through advanced field tracking, technical intelligence and multi-state tactical sweeps, operatives of the CG’s SIS tracked down the buyers who were from different locations in the country,” he said.
According to him, three of the victims were rescued in Anambra, Imo and Enugu states, while the remaining 12 were rescued in a coordinated operation along eastern transit routes.
Authorities have reportedly arrested three suspected buyers.
Afolabi urged members of the public to remain vigilant and promptly report suspected cases of child trafficking to security agencies.
