Lokoja, Nigeria — The Kogi State Police Command has dismantled a family-run human trafficking syndicate and rescued a 21-year-old victim who was lured to Côte d’Ivoire under false promises of employment but forced into prostitution.
The Command’s Public Relations Officer, ASP Saliu Afusat, disclosed this on Tuesday while parading the suspects in Lokoja, identifying them as Mrs. Angela Sylvester, 38, her two daughters and her son-in-law, Emmanuel David.
According to the police, the suspects specialised in deceiving young women with offers of lucrative jobs abroad before trafficking them for sexual exploitation.
“The suspects lured Miss Patience Adamu with the promise of a hairdressing job in Côte d’Ivoire but ended up introducing her into prostitution,” Afusat said.
She explained that the victim, burdened by poverty after the death of her father, accepted the offer in hopes of supporting her family. She was subsequently transported through Lagos to a contact who facilitated her movement to Côte d’Ivoire.
The operation was uncovered after the victim managed to contact her family from abroad, prompting her mother to raise alarm.
Afusat said the case was later reported to the Challenge Parenthood Initiative (CPI), which petitioned the police, leading to the arrest of the suspects and the safe return of the victim.
“With credible intelligence, the police swung into action, arrested the suspects, which led to the safe return of the victim,” she added.
Further investigations revealed that more victims may still be trapped within the trafficking network, raising concerns over the scale of the operation.
Executive Director of CPI, Eunice Abimbola Agbogun, said the organisation received the complaint in April and escalated it to the police, who acted swiftly.
“There is a particular family operating a trafficking cell in Lokoja, luring vulnerable young women into prostitution in Côte d’Ivoire,” she said.
She added that the syndicate typically routes victims through Ghana before delivering them to handlers abroad.
Agbogun warned that poverty and illiteracy continue to make young women vulnerable to trafficking, calling on authorities to intensify efforts and establish a presence of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Kogi State.
The victim’s mother, Mrs. Mercy Aliu, expressed gratitude to the police and the NGO for rescuing her daughter after months of uncertainty.
Meanwhile, the survivor described her experience as “horrific and traumatic,” urging authorities to help rescue other Nigerian women trapped in similar conditions abroad.
Police said the suspects would be transferred to NAPTIP for further investigation and prosecution.
