LAGOS, Aug 7 (NNN-Xinhua) — Six teenage victims of human trafficking were rescued during a law enforcement operation in the southern state of Edo, Nigerian police said.
Philip Ogbadu, the state police chief of Edo, told reporters in Benin City, the state capital, that the victims, aged 16 to 19, were rescued on Friday by police operatives after an intelligence tip.
He said the victims were travelling to Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s capital, in a bus when they were intercepted by police operatives on the busy Benin-Lagos road.
The victims, who are from the southeast states of Delta, Edo and Enugu but all live in Edo, were recruited for the journey by a sister of one of them, he added.
Unyimen Johnson, associate project officer of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Nigeria, said at an event to commemorate the 2021 World Day Against Trafficking in Persons held in Benin City on July 30 that Nigeria remains a country of origin, transit and destination for human trafficking.
Driven by the demand for cheap labor and commercial sex, trafficking rings across borders and within countries capitalize on economic, social and political vulnerabilities to exploit their victims, Johnson said. — NNN-XINHUA
