NIS nabs seven trafficked persons in Jigawa

The Jigawa State Command of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) says it has intercepted seven victims of suspected human trafficking in the state. Parading the victims before newsmen Friday in Dutse, the State Comptroller of Immigration, Ismail Abba Aliyu, said they were aged between 16 and 28 and were intercepted around 3pm on Wednesday at Giurai village, along Babura road, heading from Kano to Niger Republic en route Libya.

The rescue was carried out by Operation Salama Team ‘A’ of the NIS operating along the Kazaure, Babura and Ringim axis of the state.

Aliyu said the suspected victims were all females from the southern part of the country, including one each from Lagos, Kwara and Oyo states; and two each from Ogun and Imo states.

The immigration chief said only two of the suspected victims had blank, Nigerian International Passports; one had an unendorsed ECOWAS Travel Certificate, while the remaining four had no travel documents at all.

He added, “Upon our investigation, the victims confessed to be travelling to Tripoli in Libya through Niger Republic. They came to Kano individually from their various states, where they met and boarded a vehicle at the park to convey them to Niger Republic, from where they intended to proceed to Tripoli in Libya.”

“On the instruction of the Comptroller-General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (CG-NIS), Muhammad Babandede, the victims were handed over to the Kano Zone of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further questioning.”