DSS nabs 59 suspected sex workers in Calabar

The Department of State Security (DSS) has arrested 59 girls, including teenagers suspected to be commercial sex workers in Calabar.

The girls were arrested in the wee hours of yesterday, after a secret monitoring on the brothel.

Cross River State Director of DSS, Ilupeju Adebayo, said: “We have made some arrests, including the owner of “Papsi Place” a brothel that houses mostly underage girls, who pay him N2,000 on week days and N4,000 on weekends as lodging fee. They operate from the hotel to clubs where we arrested them stark naked.”

He stated that there was a cartel responsible for getting the girls and making them to swear oaths of secrecy while promising not to abscond, no matter what or divulge information about the business.

He said: “We got an intelligent report and swung into action. We have been on the matter for months. We discovered that the girls are underage, mostly 13, 15, and 19 years.

“We also know that they were brought in by a cartel, deeply involved in the business of trafficking and using the girls as commercial sex workers. We have contacted National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), while investigations are ongoing till all those involved in the illicit trade are arrested and charged to court.”