The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has received 231 Nigerians, including 27 suspected traffickers repatriated from Ghana.
The returnees were handed over to NAPTIP and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) by the Ghanaian government through the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO).
They arrived in Nigeria after a major crackdown on a human trafficking and cybercrime syndicate, which was operating from a gated estate in Ghana.
Four women, believed to be victims of human trafficking, were among the returnees.
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The returnees comprised young men, some of whom had reportedly been held captive for years and allegedly forced to participate in cyber fraud by the syndicate.
The handover ceremony took place at NAPTIP’s office in Ikeja on Thursday.
Dominic Mensah, the EOCO official, said ‘Operation rescue shield’ was initiated following a tip-off about illegal activities occurring in 26 houses within one estate in Ghana.
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“We received a complaint on March 28th from an informant alleging that a group of Nigerians were using young people for cybercrime,” Mensah said.
“Surveillance was carried out, and we launched the operation at 3:30 a.m. one week ago with support from national security and police services. A total of 233 persons were initially arrested.”
Meza added that some of the victims had been lured to Ghana under the pretext of getting jobs but ended up being trapped and forced into cybercrime.
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