Driver, boss remanded in prison over human trafficking

A 34-year-old driver, Happy Osagie, has been remanded in prison custody by a Benin Magistrate Court, for alleged human trafficking.

Osagie is said to be working for a lady who specialised in human trafficking. The lady has also been apprehended on her arrival in United Kingdom last week for the offence of human trafficking.

A statement yesterday by the Commander, NAPTIP Benin Zonal office, Nduka Nwanwenne, said the suspect, who was deported from Italy in 2015, was arraigned before Chief Magistrate I.U. Iyoha.

He was charged with organising foreign travel for a victim, contrary to Section 18 of Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement Act, 2015.

Nwanwenne said Osagie’s boss was equally remanded in prison custody in the United Kingdom. The statement said the accused pleaded not guilty while his counsel Barr. J. Odin urged the court to grant him bail.

Magistrate Iyoha remanded the accused in prison and adjourned the case to October, 3 for further hearing.

Reacting to the development, the Director General of NAPTIP said the agency is poised to fight human trafficking to a standstill in the country.

He said NAPTIP has been repositioned to crack all cases of human trafficking and getting all offenders punished accordingly.