Immigration arrests woman in Ekiti over human trafficking

Operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) have arrested a woman in Ekiti State for alleged human trafficking.

The NIS officials made the arrest on Tuesday when a 35-yearold woman, Mrs Mary Omowaye, visited the command’s Passport Office in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, to procure international passports for three girls to travel to Italy for jobs the Service deemed illegal.

The girls gathered for the aborted Italy trip were identified as Adegoroye Abiodun, 24; Akinsanmi Titilayo Blessing, 30; and Adeyan Motunrayo, 20, all from Idanre, Ondo State .

The NIS Comptroller, Ekiti State Command, Mrs Ifeoma Benedicta Dibia, who disclosed the arrest to journalists yesterday while handing over the suspect and the three girls to the National Agency for the

Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), said Omowaye was nabbed after NIS officials got wind of where she was planning to travel to with the girls.

Dibia alleged Omowaye was operating in connivance with her Italy-based sister, Jumoke, and one Mr Jamiu, whose alleged racket was processing travelling visas for girls to be trafficked.

“One of our responsibilities is to stop human trafficking and child’s labour. And when these young ladies came to our Passport section for international passports, we interrogated them and suspected that this could be an illegal migration.

“They said they were going to Italy to do hairdressing and as househelps. We know this is how traffickers trick their victims to other countries, only to get there and use them for prostitution.

After interrogating the girls further, we knew that they didn’t know what they were going there to do.

“We will work in tandem with NAPTIP to arrest the chief syndicates, Mr Jamiu in Lagos and Jumoke in Italy, for prosecution. We will also reunite the victims with their families for protection,” she said.

Omowaye, however, denied she was tricking the girls to travel to Italy for prostitution. “This is not true. My younger sister there has been helping people to travel. Even my 19-year-old daughter is there working as a shop-keeper. We are just trying to help them,” she maintained.

“The woman in Italy is the one sponsoring us. We will work for her for six months when we get there and then regain our freedom. That was the agreement reached with us,” she said.