Madam Arrested with Six Girls in Benin City

News from Nigerian Guardian;
http://odili.net/news/source/2011/jun/16/4.html

THE Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) yesterday paraded a human trafficker and her six victims in Benin City, Edo State capital, where it also cautioned parents and guardians to keep an eye on their wards.

The NIS said it discovered in the cause of interrogation that the six victims, who were between the ages of 18 and 25, did not inform their parents of their intention to flee abroad.

Parading the suspect and her victims yesterday, Edo State Comptroller of NIS, David Akwo, said the suspected trafficker, Queen Ogbomo, came to the office to acquire international passports for the girls with a view to trafficking them to Europe for prostitution.

He said: "Ogbomo came to our office in company of her mother, brother and two girls and their mission was to acquire passports. "

"One week later, Ogbomo came back with three other girls for the purpose of acquiring passports too. The officer she has been meeting became suspicious and decided to find out from her whether the girls were related to her. She claimed that some of them were her cousins going abroad on a visit. But the officer was not convinced and he requested to see the parents of the girls. But Ogbomo stopped coming to the office and refused to pick her calls".

Akwo added: "But the girls started calling the officer asking when their passport would be ready. So last Sunday, the officer called Ogbomo and she picked. He told her the passports were ready that she should come with the girls to sign and collect them. Ogbomo and the girls showed up on Monday and that was how we arrested them".

The 35-year-old Ogbomo said she was based in Spain and that her intention was to take the girls to Greece. She also disclosed that her brother whom she referred as Osas Aikaro, who is also based in Spain, was the financier of the project.

"The plan was that when the girls come over, my brother will provide them employment and from there, they will refund him his money", she stated.

Akwo said the suspect and the victims would be taken to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for prosecution.

Apparently due to the oath the girls have entered with Ogbomo, none of the six victims was ready to volunteer any information for fear of adverse repercussions.