Olusegun Ariyo
An interstate child trafficking syndicate has been dismantled by operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, in collaboration with the Department of State Services, arresting a female truck driver and six other suspects in Abuja.
NAPTIP’s Chief Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, in a statement Tuesday, revealed that the syndicate specialised in stealing and trafficking children from one part of Nigeria to the other.
They were arrested while trying to sell a three-year-old girl stolen from Damaturu, Yobe State.
The operation resulted in the arrest of 33-year-old Hasana Jacob from the Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, who is also a truck driver for a cement company based in Obajana, near Lokoja, Kogi State.
While attempting to sell the three-year-old girl allegedly stolen from Damaturu, Yobe State, Jacob was arrested.
Aisha Suleiman, Murtala Tanimu, Shamsu Tanimu, Adamu Jacob, Abubakar Ahmed, and Ali Muhammed, all suspected members of the trafficking network, were also apprehended.
Preliminary investigations, according to Adekoye, revealed that the syndicate spécialiséd in abducting children aged one and above, transporting them across the country using a branded cement truck to evade suspicion and selling them to unknown buyers for as much as N600,000 each.
Through a network of recruiters and buyers strategically placed across various states, making it easy to move and dispose of stolen children swiftly, the gang reportedly operates.
According to the statement, “The report indicates that because Hasana is a truck driver with this popular cement company, it was very easy for her to steal children at any of the terminals across the country, evade security checks on the roads, and deliver such stolen children to her gang members at any location without being noticed.”
The statement strongly suspected the syndicate has membership across the country with different roles, stressing that while some members of the trafficking ring hunt and lure victims to the truck terminal, where they will be picked up by Hasana, others arrange interested buyers at any of the terminals across the country even before the arrival of the victim, thereby making it fast for the gang leader to dispose of the stolen child and collect her money.
NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Bello, while reacting to the development, described the incident as a “heinous crime against humanity” and expressed shock over the role played by Jacob in leading the syndicate.
Represented by the Director of Research and Programme Development, Mr. Josiah Emerole, she said that she was deeply saddened by the latest arrest, saying that it is painful to note that human beings will organise a criminal gang, use a branded vehicle of a company, move from one part of the country to another, steal children belonging to other families, and sell them to interested buyers whose motives for the children are not known.
She added that they create everlasting sorrow and pain for those families and smile to the bank after selling those children, pointing out that it is unimaginable and it is a condemnable act of wickedness.
She noted that it is more painful when the arrowhead of the evil syndicate is a woman who knows the pain of motherhood.
The Director General commended the DSS for its unwavering support and collaboration, which, she said, was crucial to the success of the operation and called on other law enforcement agencies and stakeholders to deepen cooperation to protect Nigerian children from the menace of trafficking.
The 22-tyre cement truck used in the illicit operation has since been impounded by NAPTIP as investigations continue.
