The director-general of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Senator Basheer Garba Muhammed, has disclosed that a total of 104 victims of human trafficking have been rescued by operatives of the agency on their way to Europe en route Libya in the last two weeks in a renewed effort by the agency to truncate activities of human traffickers in the country.
According to him, eight suspected human traffickers were also arrested in the process just as efforts are on to apprehend other members of the trafficking syndicates still at large.
Senator Muhammed disclosed this in Abuja while speaking on the agency’s renewed offensive against human traffickers across the country.
The director-general had ordered regional directors, zonal commanders and state commanders to embark on effective surveillance within their areas of operation in order to forestall recruitment and trafficking of any Nigerian for any purpose.
He also tasked them on the need to scale up their sensitization and awareness activities in order to reduce the vulnerability of the people and expose the antics of human traffickers.
Speaking in Abuja, the director-general explained that the enhanced operations of the agency have continued to yield favourably as no fewer than 104 victims of human trafficking have been rescued and eight suspected traffickers nabbed by the agency, in collaboration with other sister agencies.
According to the NAPTIP boss, “The victims were on transit from Ondo, Ekiti, Delta, Anambra, Edo, Osun, Kogi, Akwa Ibom, Kwara, Ogun and Lagos states en route to Rivers, Oyo, Osun, Delta and Ogun States then to Euroupe via Libya
“On receiving the information, a special operation was coordinated by NAPTIP Joint Border Task Force in collaboration with Katsina State Police Command and the 19 victims were rescued on August 18.
“No matter where the traffickers go to deceive and recruit victims, they will always meet us at the exit point. Their field days in the illicit business of human trafficking and child labour are over.”