NAPTIP docks alleged human trafficker, hotel manager

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has secured a court order to remand one Hafeez Abdulsalam, and the manager of an Abuja-based hotel, Mathew Masi, over alleged human trafficking.

The Director, Investigation and Monitoring of NAPTIP, Josiah Emerole, told The Guardian, yesterday, in Abuja that an operation led to the rescue of 13 women suspected to be victims of human trafficking at the hotel, located in Gwagwalada, a satellite town in Abuja.

Emerole said Abdulsalam had been on NAPTIP’s watch list for about two months. He said: “It was the Department of State Services (DSS) that alerted us to join them in looking for him. Neighbours alerted us that there had been some suspicious movements at the hotel and we swooped on it.”

Emerole explained that NAPTIP is currently profiling the 13 to ensure they are indeed victims and that none is working for Abdulsalam and his gang.

NAPTIP said Abdulsalam, who is based in the southwest, had brought the girls from various states to Abuja, with a view to trafficking them through the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport.