25 women were rescued in Abuja by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) from alleged human traffickers who were planning to transport them to Saudi Arabia for labour enslavement.
Traffickers had collected the victims, who ranged in age from 17 to 43, in front of a well-known hotel in Wuse II in order to transfer them farther.
According to NAPTIP’s Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, the women were recruited from Kano, Jigawa, and Katsina states with promises of lucrative domestic work abroad. Many of them, who had never been to Abuja before, were stranded without travel documents when rescued.
One of the victims told investigators: “Some people came to our village and told my parents they would help me travel abroad to work as a house help in Saudi Arabia. They promised good pay so I could take care of my family. They asked us to wait here for our travel documents and instructions, but none of them showed up.”
NAPTIP’s Director-General, Binta Adamu Bello, confirmed the rescue and linked a “popular travel agency” to the operation. She disclosed that a manhunt had been launched for the agency and its operators.
“I wish to alert our partners to a new tactic used by trafficking syndicates who now use Abuja as a muster point,” Bello said. “Only a few months ago, victims were intercepted near the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport. Now, we have another 25 women rescued.”
She warned the Association of Recruiters and Licensed Placement Agency of Nigeria to regulate its members, stressing that trafficking victims often suffer extreme exploitation abroad.
“The sad part is that many of these women eagerly accepted the traffickers’ offers, unaware of the suffering awaiting them,” she said.
“The good news is that this trafficking process has been disrupted, and we are closing in on the agency responsible.”
NAPTIP said the operation was part of its intensified surveillance and intelligence monitoring in major cities following reports of rising recruitment from rural communities for human trafficking.
