NIS Foils Trafficking Attempt, Arrests Suspect at Sokoto Border

NIS Foils Trafficking Attempt, Arrests Suspect at Sokoto Border

Operatives of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS) at the Ilela border command in Sokoto have arrested Rukaya Hassan, 25, for attempting to traffic two underage girls to the Niger Republic.

The Command Public Relations Officer (CPRO), Mohammed Abdullahi, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, noted that the victims have been handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigations.

Abdullahi added that the operation was a swift response to the morale-boosting charge of the new Comptroller General of Immigration (CGI), Mrs. Kemi Nandap.

During interrogation, Hassan, a resident of the Giribshi area of Sokoto, confessed that she did not know the two girls she was travelling with to Niger. “She claimed they were handed over to her by one woman in Sokoto, named Maman Adnan, who paid for their transport to Niger,” Abdullahi said. “She also claimed the woman requested her to help take the two girls to another woman in Niger, named Amina Yunusa, who will give them jobs in her restaurant in Niamey.”

Further examination revealed that the two teenagers, Nabila Ibrahim, 17, and her sister, Zainab Ibrahim, 15, hailed from Zuru LGA in Kebbi State. “According to them, they were going to Niger to resume work in a certain restaurant which they didn’t know the owner, but that their parents approved of their trip.”

Reacting to the incident, the Comptroller of Immigration, Ilela Command, Tony Akuneme, who conducted the interviews, invited NAPTIP, Sokoto State, to take charge of the two victims and the suspected trafficker. This move aims to aid further investigation and possible prosecution.

Akuneme reiterated his commitment to sustaining the campaign against the Smuggling of Migrants (SOM) and Trafficking in Persons (TIP), aligning with the efforts of the CGI. He also quoted the CGI, thanking the officers and men of the Ilela border command for their diligence and promising to reward outstanding personnel.