Metro

NAPTIP Rescues Seven Girls From Iraq-bound Trafficking Ring In Abuja Hotel

Published

6 months ago

March 23, 2025

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons said it rescued seven young women believed to be victims of human trafficking after it raided a popular hotel in Zamaru, a few kilometres from the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja.

The girls “were being prepared to be trafficked to Baghdad, Iraq, for exploitation,” NAPTIP’s Chief Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, revealed in a statement Sunday evening.

The statement was titled ‘NAPTIP raids popular hotel near Abuja Airport harbouring Iraq–bound suspected human trafficking victims, rescues 7 victims.’

Adekoye said the operation, which followed a tip-off, also led to the arrest of the hotel manager, who is currently being interrogated for allegedly harbouring the victims.

The hotel had been under surveillance after concerned persons raised alarm over the unusual movement of young girls and strange-looking men within the premises—signs, NAPTIP says, pointed to the presence of a trafficking ring.

A preliminary profiling of the rescued victims revealed that six of them were recruited from Lagos, while one hails from Delta State.

They were allegedly lured with promises of “well-paying caregiving jobs in Iraq but later discovered they were being trafficked,” the statement read.

“They told me that I will do a househelp job in Baghdad and I will receive good salary every month.

“I believed them because I think say Baghdad is in another country. Them no tell me say I dey go work for Iraq,” one of the victims tearfully recounted, Adekoye wrote.

This latest rescue adds to a growing number of interceptions by NAPTIP, which said it has prevented over 60 suspected victims from being trafficked through the Abuja airport in recent months to volatile and war-torn Middle East countries.

Reacting to the development, NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Bello, expressed deep concern over the involvement of service providers in human trafficking, noting that the hotel served as a “muster point” for traffickers operating between Nigeria and the Middle East.

Represented by the Director of Research and Programme Development, Mr. Josiah Emerole, the DG stated, “It is sad the way some service providers aid and abet the recruitment, transportation, transfer, and harbouring of Nigerians who are victims of human trafficking.

“The suspected victims are trafficked from different parts of the country and harboured in the hotel.

“The victims were being briefed on how to evade arrest and respond to questioning at the airport,” she added, noting that harbouring victims of trafficking is itself a punishable offence under the law.”

Bello warned that the agency would now invoke the full weight of the law to prosecute individuals or entities found complicit in trafficking activities.

NAPTIP said it has intensified its manhunt for other members of the trafficking network believed to be operating in collaboration with criminal syndicates in Iraq.

“The Manager of the hotel is being quizzed and we have also intensified the manhunt for other members of the trafficking gang working in collaboration with other criminal elements in Iraq,” the DG stated.

Metro

Gateman Arrested For Allegedly Defiling Four-year-old Pupil In Oyo

Published

23 minutes ago

September 5, 2025

Editor

A 26-year-old gateman identified as Josiah Ayomide has been arrested for allegedly defiling a four-year-old pupil in one of the schools in Ibadan, Oyo State.

The suspect was paraded alongside other suspects arrested for offences ranging from theft, banditry, rape, and other crimes at the Oyo State Police Command, Eleyele, Ibadan, on Thursday.

In his briefing, the Police Public Relations Officer, CSP Adewale Osifeso, said the suspect was nabbed after the victim complained of severe vaginal pains to her parents at home.

Osifeso added that after a thorough investigation and probe, the suspect confessed to the crime.

The police spokesman said the victim later told her mother that her school gateman had unlawfully raped her while she was in the school.

According to the report, “The victim was taken to the Police Medical Clinic, Eleyele-Ibadan, for medical examination and treatment, and the medical report revealed that the hymen was not intact, with tenderness around the vulva and vagina and bruises.”

Osifeso said the suspect would be prosecuted upon completion of the investigation.

Metro

Panic As Fire Guts Fuel Station In Ikorodu

Published

2 hours ago

September 5, 2025

Editor

Photo: File Copy

There was pandemonium on Friday when fire gutted A1 Petroleum Filling Station, an independent oil dealer located on Isawo Road, off Agric Bus Stop in Ikorodu, Lagos.

As of 1 p.m., the extent of property destroyed and possible casualties had not been confirmed. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

Men of the Lagos State Fire and Rescue Service, supported by other emergency responders, were at the scene battling to contain the inferno, which reportedly began from a diesel-laden truck within the premises.

Metro

DSS Charges Top Ansaru Leaders Over Terrorism, Kuje Prison Break Roles

Published

2 hours ago

September 5, 2025

Editor

The Department of State Services (DSS) has brought terrorism charges against two senior commanders of Ansaru, an Al-Qaeda-linked terror group, over their alleged role in violent attacks across Nigeria.

The suspects are Mahmud Usman, also known as Abu Bara’a/Abbas/Mukhtar, who is described as the Emir of Ansaru, and his deputy Mahmud al-Nigeri, also called Malam Mamuda. They were recently captured during security operations.

According to the DSS, the charges against them include leading a terrorist organisation, funding its activities, recruiting members, and planning violent operations nationwide.

Their arraignment at the Federal High Court in Abuja is expected soon.

Nuhu Ribadu, the national security adviser (NSA), said the two men were behind the July 2022 Kuje prison attack, where more than 600 inmates, including Boko Haram suspects, escaped.

Ribadu explained: “Abu Bara was the coordinator of terrorist sleeper cells across Nigeria and the mastermind of several high-profile kidnappings and armed robberies used to finance terrorism.”

On Mamuda, Ribadu revealed that he trained in Libya between 2013 and 2015 under foreign jihadists from Egypt, Tunisia, and Algeria, specialising in handling weapons and making explosive devices.

The NSA also linked the suspects to the 2013 abduction of French engineer Francis Collomp in Katsina, the 2019 kidnapping of Musa Uba, Magajin Garin Daura, and the kidnapping of the Emir of Wawa.

Ribadu described their arrest as “a turning point”, noting that the duo maintained strong networks in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso.