Not less than twenty-two victims of human trafficking have been rescued in the Niger Republic on their way to Tripoli in Libya.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons (NAPTIP) in Sokoto revealed this on Tuesday.
Nigeria’s Zonal Commander of NAPTIP Abubakar Bashiru while addressing journalists at the NAPTIP zonal command in Sokoto said the command received twenty-two victims of human trafficking between the ages of fifteen to twenty years.
He said the victims, mostly from the southern part of Nigeria are intercepted in the Niger Republic and repatriated to Nigeria by the Nigeria police who handed them over to the officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service at the Illela Border.
Mr Bashiru said the victims were handed over to NAPTIP by the officials of the Nigeria Immigration Service at the Illela border.
He added that NAPTIP has commenced an investigation to find out the culprit responsible for the heinous crime against the victims.
He also expressed disappointment that despite sensitizing the public against the danger of trafficking, parents of some of the victims in trafficking cases are always accomplices in committing the crime.
Before now, officials of NAPTIP have identified Sokoto state as a Source, Transit and Destination (STD) for most trafficking merchants engage in these dehumanizing criminal activities.