The Edo State Special Security Squad said it uncovered an armoury and camps in the forest used by kidnappers to carry out their devilish activities.

The squad made this known in a statement issued by the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Monday Okpebholo, Fred Itua, and made available to newsmen on Thursday in Benin.

Itua in the statement said the discovery was made during the bush combing exercise carried out by the outfit from Tuesday to Thursday.

According to Itua, the coordinated exercise was carried out under the direct supervision of the governor’s Chief Security Officer and Principal Security Officer.

He noted that the operation covered Ovia North-East, Esan North-East, Esan West, and Esan South-East Local Government Areas of the state.

READ ALSO:Edo Agency Intercepts 14-yr-old Sickle Cell Sufferer, Others, Trafficked To Libya, Mali

Itua noted that particular attention was paid to the Benin–Akure Road corridor, where passengers of the New Edo Line were recently kidnapped.

He added, “During the bush combing, operatives recovered two locally made double-barrel guns and one live cartridge in adjoining communities, including Osa-Somba and Idunwingie in Ovia North-East. Officials noted that the discoveries point to the entrenched use of local armoury by kidnappers operating in the region.”

Head of the ESSC, Idemudia Noah, in the statement said the team was deploying drones, military personnel, and advanced surveillance in its relentless pursuit of kidnappers.

“We received distress calls from Ugboha people reporting kidnapping incidents, and we responded with massive combing of the forests. This administration is determined to ensure Edo is too unsafe for criminals. The message is clear: criminals must leave the state or face decisive action,” Noah declared.

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A member of the squad, Eribo Emwanta, disclosed that in Ugboha forest, operatives discovered abandoned camps suspected to have been used as kidnapping hideouts.

He said that the exercise would remain continuous, with Governor Okpebholo personally monitoring the team’s activities.

Recall that Last Friday, gunmen suspected to be kidnappers killed eight personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps attached to the BUA Cement Factory located in Okpella, Etsako East Local Government Area of the state.

An expatriate, a Chinese national, was also kidnapped while four others were rescued from their abductors. Four people were also injured and are currently receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.

Also, passengers in an Edo Line bus and a Toyota Corolla car were abducted along Benin-Auchi Road on the same day, but 16 of them were later rescued by the police.

Edo State Migration Agency has intercepted a 14-year-old sickle cell sufferer and a 13-year-old girl being trafficked to Libya by a human trafficking syndicate.

Presenting the minors (name withheld) before newsmen on Thursday in Benin, Director-General of the agency, Lucky Agazuma, said the agency heard about the case, swung into action and was able to intercept them in Zaria, Kaduna State.

He said, “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, who said the agency will not fold its arm and watch Edo children trafficked out of the country at a time the state government is spending billions of naira to make sure Edo children have access to quality education, noted that all suspects arrested in connection with the case will be prosecuted in line with the appropriate laws.

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The DG, while urging members of the public to report any suspicious case of human traffic to the agency, warned: “If you’re a trafficker, be warned that we are very close to you. It is better if you move away from Edo State.”

The 14-year-old sickle cell sufferer narrated that a boy in the area came to inform her that he wanted to take her and her friend to Libya, warning that they shouldn’t inform their parents until they get to Libya, and when they get there they will call their parents phone as a surprise.

She added that he thereafter took two of them to a lady who took their photo graph and sent via phone to another person who complained of her health, but the lady with them assured the person at the other end that she was healthy.

According to the minor, they were thereafter asked to go and take their bath, after which they went back to the lady who took them to the motor park, bought them food and hijab, and handed them over to a vehicle en route to Kano with a phone number of who to contact.

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She said they were on their way when calls from both the boy and lady came in, asking them to come back because their mother had been arrested, and that they will not release the lady’s mother until they return home.

The minor added that when they eventually got to Zaira, they called the contact person who asked them to come, but the lady at the other end called and asked them to return home, adding that the lady thereafter transferred money to a driver in the park who brought them back home.

One of the suspects who identified herself as Comfort Etim, 49, who said she was innocent of the children being trafficked, however, said that the boy actually brought the girls to her daughter with the claim that they were his sisters and that he wanted them to be taken abroad.

Mrs. Etim, who claimed she was never aware that the children were to be trafficked abroad, confessed that her daughter (who is at large) had so far trafficked six minors abroad.

READ ALSO:Gunmen Kill NSCDC Personnel In Edo, Abduct Expatriate

In a related development, the agency also paraded a 18-year-old girl who was deceived of a sale girl job in Lagos but unfortunately trafficked to Mali.

Narrating her ordeal, Joseph Faith said she was promised a sales girl job in Lagos but when they got to Lagos the woman who took her from Afuze, Edo State, proceeded to Cotonou and from there to Mali.

She said the woman in Cotonou handed her over to a Mali going to Mali and returned back to Nigeria, adding that what she said in Mali was different from what she was told she was going to be doing.

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“I arrived at Mali around 10PM, they then took me to a woman. When we got there, what she told me I was going to be doing was quite different from what I saw. What the woman uses girls in her place for was prostitution, so I told the woman that I can’t do it, and that I want to go back home. The woman told me that before I can go back home, the woman in Nigeria needs to bring another person to replace me.

“I was there for three weeks. I was starving. That was when I ran to the police station to report, and the police put me in a vehicle back in Nigeria.”

Asked how she survived for the three weeks she spent in Mali, she said: “It was not easy for me. Since I refused to do it (prostitution) she refused to feed me. So, I used to come out at night, and people gave me money. This is how I survived.”

A journalist in Kebbi State has been detained after releasing a video exposing poor conditions at a government hospital, sparking outrage among activists and renewed calls for press freedom.

The journalist, identified as Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa, was reportedly arrested on the orders of the state government following the circulation of the footage filmed at Kangiwa General Hospital.

The video, which went viral on social media, showed an elderly patient lying on a bare metal bed frame without a mattress.

The footage triggered widespread criticism, with many accusing state officials of targeting the messenger instead of addressing what they described as rot in the healthcare system.

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Opposition activist Omoyele Sowore condemned the arrest, describing it as an act of “tyranny.” He accused the state government of suppressing free speech, saying: “A fake comrade who detains journalists for exposing government failures should not be tolerated.”

The Take It Back Movement, a pro-democracy group, also criticised the detention, demanding Kangiwa’s immediate release.

In a statement, the group said: “This is sheer tyranny. Instead of fixing hospitals, Kebbi authorities are arresting journalists.”

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On social media, the hashtag #FreeHassanKangiwaNow trended as Nigerians reshared the video and condemned the state government’s action. One user wrote: “Rather than fixing the hospital, you arrest the journalist exposing the truth.”

As of Wednesday, neither the state government nor the police in Birnin Kebbi had issued an official statement regarding Kangiwa’s arrest or possible charges.

Rights groups have since been tagged in online campaigns calling for Kangiwa’s release.