Child Trafficking: NAPTIP Rescues 21 Children, Arrests Suspect

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has rescued 21 children of Kaduna State origin on their way from Zaria, Kaduna state to Nasarawa State for labour exploitation.

The children whose ages range from 6 – 15 years were intercepted at the Bwari area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by military personnel at a military checkpoint.

The children were cramped in a white coloured old J5 vehicle with registration number Lagos XT 472 GGE without windows. The vehicle according to the suspect is used for carrying tomatoes. By the time the children were rescued, they were weak and tired without face masks and other Protection equipment from Covid-19.

The driver of the vehicle Bala Ibrahim, who is the prime suspect, is being interrogated by the investigators.

Reacting to this, the Director-General, Imaan Sulaiman Ibrahim has advised parents to be weary of those they leave their children with especially with the menace of trafficking in persons across the world.

She wondered why anybody would allow the children to be moved in such an inhumane condition especially under the Covid-19 pandemic era. She pledged that the law will take its course on this matter.