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General News of Wednesday, 13 January 2021

Source: www.mynigeria.com

Trafficking: NAPTIP officials rescues 21 teenagers, arrest suspect

The rescued children The rescued children

About 21 children of Kaduna origin were recovered by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) on their way from Zaria and Kaduna state to Nassarawa State for labour exploitation.

A statement from the Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the Agency, Stella Nezan said the children who are between 6 - 15 were intercepted at the Bwari area council of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) by military personnel at a military checkpoint.

The statement disclosed that the children were cramped in a white coloured old J5 vehicle with registration number Lagos XT 472 GGE without windows.

The vehicle according to the suspect is used for carrying tomatoes, and by the time the children were rescued, they were weak and tired without face masks and other Protection equipment against Covid-19, according to Sunnewsonline.com

“The driver of the vehicle, Bala Ibrahim, who is the prime suspect is being interrogated by the investigators. The Director-General of NAPTIP, Imaan Suleiman Ibrahim, has advised parents to be weary of those they leave their children with especially with the menace of trafficking in persons across the world,” the statement read.

NAPTIP boss wondered why anybody would allow the children to be moved in such an inhumane condition especially under the Covid-19 pandemic era. She pledged that the law will take its course on this matter, Sunnewsonline wrote.