THE National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in Birnin Kebbi says it has rescued 19 children trafficked from Zuru area of Kebbi State to Calabar, Cross River State.
While presenting 9 out of the 19 children that had been screened and linked with their parents to Governor Nasir Idris at the Government House in Birnin Kebbi, the State Commander of NAPTIP, Musbau Iya Kaura, said the children were rescued by the anti persons trafficking agency from syndicates that specialized in child trafficking in Calabar.
He said six persons, including a female lecturer in Calabar, had been arrested in connection with the crime and arraigned.
He added that the Calabar syndicates paid between N280,000 and N450,000 per child to their collaborators in Kebbi.
“They lied to parents of the children that they were being taken to Gusau in Zamfara State for education only to move the children to Calabar in Cross River State. They changed their names and sold them out to people that used them for different purposes,” he said.
The NAPTIP commander added that out of the 19 children rescued by NAPTIP, only nine of them had been screened and had testified in court against the suspects arrested in connection with the crime.
He said the 10 others are yet to testify in court and had not been screened by the agency.
“When they were arrested, during investigation, they claimed their church gave them the permission to take the children to their branch in Calabar but the church leadership had debunked their claim saying they are not aware of such deal,” he said.
Governor Idris said the state government would not tolerate child trafficking and warned that parents who neglect their children would be prosecuted alongside the traffickers.
“We can take any case of abduction up to the Supreme Court to get justice for the children,” he said.
He promised that his administration would always give necessary support to NAPTIP to enhance its activities against child trafficking in the state.
