CITY NEWS 2 rescued as police arrest human trafficker 3 arrested for alleged trespass, sand digging
Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad of the Lagos State Police Command have arrested a suspected human trafficker for allegedly attempting to transport two teenage girls from Lagos to Abidjan in Ivory Coast allegedly for commercial sex work.
The suspect, Martha Edea, 30, a mother of two from Ogoja in Cross River State, was nabbed in Lagos after travelling with the young girls from Benin, Edo State.
Edea told the police that she was trafficked to Ivory Coast by one Mariam, who she said told her there were chances of securing a good job in the country.
But she said she was later introduced to sex work where she claimed she slaved for many months in paying back her custodian who brought her to Abidjan.
Martha said, “I worked for three months to pay Mariam about 300,000 cefa (N180,000) to settle her for my transportation into Ivory Coast, and also for connecting me.”
She added that Mariam, after collecting the money, travelled to Spain abandoning her as a sex worker.
The mother of two, who said she left her children in the village with her mother, lamented she couldn’t find a headway in the business after her pimp had travelled to Spain.
She further explained that she yielded to her friend’s advice to come back to Nigeria to recruit young girls for the business.
Martha came back to Nigeria and headed for Edo State where she was told she would find young girls willing to travel out of the country to hustle as prostitutes.
In Edo State, she came in contact with two young ladies named Favour and Deborah, who she said introduced her to the young girls.
“Favour took me to one Frances Bamidele who she said is her friend and will like to be taken out of the country for prostitution. Frances also agreed to follow the unknown woman after making some juicy promises and testimonies about the foreign country,” she said.
Frances, a 19-year-old secondary school dropout, told the police she was elated to hear from Martha that prostitution was lucrative in Abidjan, so she opted for it and decided to travel with her without telling her guardian.
Martha also contacted Deborah who lives in the neighborhood to help get another girl who was interested in travelling out of Nigeria in search of better work. Deborah took her to one Elo Etim, an 18-yearold, who was assured it was safe to embark on such a journey.
Martha in her statement said, “I paid both Favour and Deborah a sum of N10,000 each for helping me get a girl each for the journey. I also met with Elo’s mother and told her what her daughter was about to embark on in Abidjan and she agreed to it. She prayed for her and wished her good luck,” she explained. Three men have been arrested by detectives from the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly trespassing on a land that doesn’t belong to them.
The three suspects, identified as Fakayode Fatai, 33; Shakiru Adisa, 42; and Raphael Ble, 50, are also accused of illegal digging of sand on the land valued at about N6m.
It was gathered that the suspects allegedly conspired and entered into about 10 acres of land where they started digging and selling sand illegally.
The suspects were arrested based on a complaint filed by Mr Saidi Koleoso, who accused the suspects of entering his property without his consent.
Police prosecutor, Olakunle Shonibare, told the court that the accused committed the offences on November 2, 2017 at 11.30p.m. at Abokomopo Village, Sabo, Abeokuta.
“The accused persons entered the 10 acres of land and maliciously damaged the land by illegally digging and excavating sand on the land worth N6 million. The offences contravened Sections 458 and 516 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun 2006,” Shonibare said.
At the conclusion of the investigation, the three suspects were on Friday arraigned before an Abeokuta magistrate’s court. But they pleaded not guilty and were subsequently remanded in prison.
Magistrate Idowu Olayinka said the men should remain behind bars until November 10, 2017 for hearing of the case.