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Abia records 70 cases of human trafficking in six months, says NAPTIP

By Guardian Nigeria
24 December 2021   |   2:27 am
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has said it recorded more than 70 cases of human trafficking in Abia State within six months.

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has said it recorded more than 70 cases of human trafficking in Abia State within six months.

Coordinator of the agency in the state, Nkemdirim Okafor, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), yesterday, in Umuahia, saying the 70 cases were recorded between June and December 2021 when the agency started its operations in the state.

She said there are 27 victims whose cases are being handled, while six suspects were awaiting trial and that the victims were mostly girls and women, who were sexually exploited.

There were also cases of sales of babies, incest, labour exploitation and illegal adoption, she said. Okafor said the suspects have been moved to the Enugu Zonal Command of NAPTIP for prosecution since the Abia office has no detention facility at the moment.

She decried the high incidence of human trafficking in the state, describing Abia as an “endemic and transit state” insisting that the sale of babies was high in Abia, especially in Aba, the commercial capital.

Okafor said the agency received report of 12 and 13-year old children being nurtured to bear children for sale, adding that the command was following up on all the cases to ensure that human trafficking was curbed in Abia.

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