The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service on Saturday evening received 66 trafficked Nigerians from Ghana.
The News Agency of Nigeria is reporting that they arrived at the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post of the NIS at about 4pm.
NAN also reports that there are women, children and seven young men among the 66 returnees.
Speaking with newsmen shortly, Comptroller Abdullahi Adamu, the Area Controller of Seme Command of NIS, said the rescue efforts were in collaboration with the High Commission in Ghana.
Adamu said: “The rescue mission was our collaborative efforts from here to Ghana, our Attache in Ghana with the assistance of the High Commissioner in Ghana.
“They assisted us in apprehending these people and then they returned them to us.
“Now, from here, we will hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons from where they will find their way back to their different destinations.
“They are 66 in number, male and female.”
The Controller said that NIS was working and collaborating with the Ghanaian government to stop human traffickers.
Adamu said the operation was a testament to commitment of the Comptroller-General of Nigeria Immigration Service, Kemi Nana, in combating smuggling of migrants, human trafficking and protection of vulnerable migrants.
The delegate from Ghana, Kpeli Kofi, a Detective Chief Inspector, Interpol Unit, said they rescued the trafficked Nigerians through collaborative efforts with anti-human trafficking unit of Ghana Criminal Investigation Department.
Mutilda Dellir, Inspector, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, Ghana Police, said they had information that some people came from Nigeria to Ghana some months back.
Dellir said: “So quickly, we had to interview them and ask them their reasons for coming to Ghana.
“We realised somebody may have influenced their coming to Ghana because they said when you work in Ghana you have a lot of money so that is the reason they are coming to Ghana.
“They also came with their children, a mother coming with about six children, some have one, some have two.
“So, we realised that some traffickers brought them to Ghana, but they did not tell us the truth.
“Consequently, we have to plan and organise with the Nigeria Embassy in Ghana, and bring then back since this is not the first time Anti-human trafficking in Ghana and then NAPTIP in Nigeria are doing this.”
Dellir said the other eight ladies were picked up from different locations in Ghana, doing prostitution.
She said: “Human trafficking had been an issue in Ghana and Nigeria, so when we see these vulnerable ones, we try to interview them and ask them why they are there and what they are doing.”
One of the trafficked Nigerians, Uche John from Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, said she was lured to Ghana with promises of a better life, but was instead forced into prostitution.
John said she was happy to be back in the country, having learnt her lessons in Ghana.
NAN recalls that on July 4, 2024, the Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service said it rescued five victims of human trafficking in Côte d’Ivoire.
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The NIS Seme Comptroller said the Nigerian Immigration Attachés in Côte d’Ivoire in collaboration with the Nigerian community in that country and some other partners worked tirelessly to identify and rescue the victims.
NAN also recalls that on July 20, 2024 the Federal Government said it rescued an additional 58 Nigerian women and children trafficked to Ghana.
A statement by the Director of Media, Public Relations and Protocols for Nigerians in Diaspora Commission, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, stated that with the latest rescue, a total of 105 people had been rescued over the last three months.
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