NAPTIP Raids Abuja Hotel To Rescue Trafficking Victims

Operatives from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) conducted a raid on a well-known hotel in Zamaru, located near Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja, resulting in the rescue of seven individuals believed to be trafficked to Iraq for exploitation.

During the operation, the hotel manager was also apprehended, following credible intelligence received from concerned stakeholders who observed suspicious activities involving young girls and unfamiliar men at the establishment.

In a press release issued on Sunday, NAPTIP’s Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, stated that this operation is part of a broader initiative to dismantle human trafficking networks that utilize Abuja’s airport as a transit hub.

He noted that in recent months, NAPTIP has intercepted at least 60 suspected trafficking victims at Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, who were en route to unstable and conflict-ridden regions in the Middle East.

A thorough assessment of the rescued individuals indicated that six were recruited from Lagos, while one hailed from Delta State. The victims had been lured with false assurances of caregiving employment in Baghdad, only to discover they were being trafficked to Iraq.

“This hotel has been identified as a gathering point for trafficked victims before they are moved to their final destinations. We will not tolerate such activities and will ensure that all those involved face the full wrath of the law, Adekoye noted.

Tearfully Recounting her experience, Vanguard quoted one of the victims saying, “They told me I would work as a house help in Baghdad and earn a good salary every month. I believed them because I thought Baghdad was in another country. They never told me I was going to Iraq.”

In discussing the issue, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, the Director-General of NAPTIP, expressed her apprehension regarding the involvement of certain service providers in facilitating human trafficking. She cautioned that the agency would take legal action against offenders in accordance with applicable laws.

Speaking on her behalf, the Director of Research and Programme Development, Josiah Emerole, emphasized that NAPTIP would no longer accept the actions of individuals and businesses that contribute to trafficking. He highlighted that providing shelter to victims of human trafficking constitutes a criminal act under Nigeria’s anti-trafficking legislation.

Bello further disclosed that victims are frequently housed in hotels prior to being illegally transported out of the country, where they receive instructions on how to avoid detection by disguising their identities and supplying false information to law enforcement officials at the airport.

She said, “It is disheartening that some service providers in the country facilitate human trafficking by offering their facilities for recruitment, transportation, and harbouring of victims.

“The hotel is believed to be a muster point for victims of human trafficking to some notorious destination countries. The manager of the hotel is being interrogated, and we have intensified the manhunt for other members of the trafficking gang working in collaboration with criminal elements in Iraq.

“Due to the unpatriotic roles of some of these service providers, the agency shall henceforth invoke the appropriate sections of its law to prosecute them. This is because harbouring suspected victims of human trafficking is also an offence in the trafficking law.”

NAPTIP said efforts are ongoing to track and arrest other members of the trafficking network, including their collaborators in Iraq.