The Edo State Migration Agency has intercepted two teenage girls, aged 14 and 13, who were being trafficked to Libya by a human trafficking syndicate. One of the victims is a sickle cell sufferer.

Parading the girls before journalists yesterday in Benin, the Director-General of the agency, Lucky Agazuma, said they were intercepted in Zaria, Kaduna State, following a tip-off.

“The question is, how would a sickle cell girl survive in the desert? The good news is that when we brought them back, they were smart enough to come back with some evidence of receipts of the transport companies they are using in this state to traffic minors out. Based on this evidence, we have already reached out to many transport companies that they shouldn’t involve themselves in this devilish act,” Agazuma said.

He warned traffickers to desist, stressing that the state government was investing heavily in education and would not tolerate children being trafficked. He vowed that all suspects arrested in connection with the case would be prosecuted. “If you’re a trafficker, be warned that we are very close to you. It is better if you move away from Edo State,” he cautioned.

The 14-year-old narrated how a boy persuaded her and her friend to travel to Libya, instructing them not to inform their parents. She said they were taken to a woman who took their photographs and sent them to an accomplice, who initially raised concerns about her health.

“The lady assured the person that I was healthy,” she said. According to her, they were later taken to a motor park, given food and hijabs, and handed over to a vehicle bound for Kano with instructions to call a contact on arrival. But along the way, they received calls claiming their mother had been arrested, and they were asked to return. Eventually, money was transferred to a driver who brought them back home.

One of the suspects, 49-year-old Comfort Etim, denied involvement, saying the girls were brought to her daughter by the boy who claimed they were his sisters. She admitted, however, that her daughter, who is at large, had trafficked six minors abroad.

In a related development, the agency paraded an 18-year-old, Joseph Faith, who was trafficked to Mali under the guise of a sales job in Lagos. She said upon arrival, she was forced into prostitution but resisted. “Since I refused to do it, she refused to feed me. So, I usually came out at night, and people gave me money. This is how I survived,” she recounted.

Faith later reported to the police in Mali, who arranged her return to Nigeria.