Monday, March 24, 2025 - Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) raided a popular hotel in Zamaru, a few kilometres from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja and rescued seven young women believed to be victims of human trafficking.
NAPTIP’s Chief Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, who
disclosed this in a statement Sunday, March 23, 2025, said the girls “were
being prepared to be trafficked to Baghdad, Iraq, for exploitation,”
The statement was titled ‘NAPTIP raids popular
hotel near Abuja Airport harbouring Iraq–bound suspected human trafficking
victims, rescues 7 victims.’
Adekoye said the operation, which followed a
tip-off, also led to the arrest of the hotel manager, who is currently being
interrogated for allegedly harbouring the victims
The hotel had been under surveillance after
concerned persons raised alarm over the unusual movement of young girls and
strange-looking men within the premises—signs, NAPTIP says, pointed to the
presence of a trafficking ring.
A preliminary profiling of the rescued victims
revealed that six of them were recruited from Lagos, while one hails from Delta
State.
"They were allegedly lured with promises of
“well-paying caregiving jobs in Iraq but later discovered they were being
trafficked,” the statement read.
"They told me that I will do a househelp job
in Baghdad and I will receive good salary every month.
"I believed them because I think say Baghdad
is in another country. Them no tell me say I dey go work for Iraq,” one of the
victims tearfully recounted, Adekoye wrote.
This latest rescue adds to a growing number of
interceptions by NAPTIP, which said it has prevented over 60 suspected victims
from being trafficked through the Abuja airport in recent months to volatile
and war-torn Middle East countries.
Reacting to the development, NAPTIP’s
Director-General, Binta Bello, expressed deep concern over the involvement of
service providers in human trafficking, noting that the hotel served as a
“muster point” for traffickers operating between Nigeria and the Middle East.
Represented by the Director of Research and
Programme Development, Mr. Josiah Emerole, the DG stated, “It is sad the way
some service providers aid and abet the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
and harbouring of Nigerians who are victims of human trafficking.
“The suspected victims are trafficked from
different parts of the country and harboured in the hotel,” the DG stated.
"The victims were being briefed on how to
evade arrest and respond to questioning at the airport,” she added, noting that
harbouring victims of trafficking is itself a punishable offence under the
law.”
Bello warned that the agency would now invoke the
full weight of the law to prosecute individuals or entities found complicit in
trafficking activities.
NAPTIP said it has intensified its manhunt for
other members of the trafficking network believed to be operating in
collaboration with criminal syndicates in Iraq.
"The Manager of the hotel is being quizzed and
we have also intensified the manhunt for other members of the trafficking gang
working in collaboration with other criminal elements in
Iraq,” the DG added.
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