Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have rescued seven suspected human trafficking victims from a hotel near Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. The victims were allegedly being prepared for transportation to Baghdad, Iraq, for exploitation.
According to NAPTIP Press Officer Vincent Adekoye, the raid followed intelligence from concerned stakeholders who noticed suspicious movements of young women and unfamiliar men at the Zamaru hotel. The hotel manager was arrested during the operation.
Investigations revealed that six victims were recruited from Lagos and one from Delta State. The victims were reportedly deceived with promises of caregiving jobs in Baghdad, unaware they were being trafficked to Iraq.
“They told me that I would be a househelp in Baghdad and I will receive a good salary every month. I believed them because I think say Baghdad is in another Country. Them no tell me to say I dey go work for Iraq,” one victim recounted.
NAPTIP Director General Binta Adamu Bello expressed concern over the role of service providers in facilitating human trafficking. “The hotel is believed to be a muster point for victims of human trafficking to some of the notorious destination Countries,” she stated through her representative, Josiah Emerole.
The agency has intensified its search for other members of the trafficking network operating in collaboration with criminal elements in Iraq. NAPTIP warned it would invoke relevant provisions of anti-trafficking laws to prosecute service providers who harbor trafficking victims.
This case follows NAPTIP’s interception of approximately 60 suspected trafficking victims at the same airport in recent months, all headed to volatile Middle Eastern countries.
