3 bag jail term in Edo for human trafficking

THREE human traffickers, Ngozi Owoh 22, Ahmed Femi 33 and Odigie Iyobosa 29, have been sentenced to two years imprisonment by a Benin High Court for trafficking two female Senior Secondary Students.

They were however given fine option of N150,000 on each country charge by Justice Alero Edodo-Eruaga after they pleaded guilty to the charges.

A statement from the Benin Zonal Command of the head of public enlightenment unit of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP), stated that the suspects were arraigned before the court in charge No/B/NAPTIP/2C/2017.

The convicts were charged with procuring underage girls for prostitution, organising foreign travels, which promote prostitution and conspiracy to facilitate foreign travel contrary to the provision of Trafficking in Person (prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.

NAPTIP prosecutor, Emodogo Rosemary, informed the court that the convicts recruited the two students, 16 and 18, and promised them better life and opportunity abroad.

He added “The convicts were alleged to have before embarking on the journey took the victims to a shrine where oath of secrecy was administered on them.”

He said they were intercepted at the Seme boarder en route Cote d’ Ivoire by the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) who arrested one of them, rescued the victims and handed them over to NAPTIP for prosecution.

Reacting to the development, the Benin Zonal Commander of NAPTIP, Mr Odita Ifechukwude, said there would be no hiding place for traffickers in the state, assuring that the command was ready to bring offenders to book.