The Operatives of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) Border Control at Kongolam, Katsina State has intercepted and arrested twenty-eight (28) victims on the verge of been trafficked out of the country through the Nigerian border at Kongolam to Niger Republic by human traffickers.
A statement by the Service Public Relations Officer, Deputy Comptroller of Immigration Sunday James in Abuja on Friday said that the victims were being trafficked out of the country under the pretense that they were going to Agadez in Niger Republic to take up jobs.
It stated that when interrogated, the victims were lost between the truth and reality of disclosures as most of them left without informing their parents of their plans and destination as they were under the illusion of going to take up jobs promised them by their traffickers.
The statement added that a breakdown of the intercepted victims showed that nineteen (19) were females while nine (9) were males.
It quoted the Comptroller General of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede as calling on young Nigerians to avoid the options given them by the human traffickers of securing jobs that were not available in the first instance outside the country as they were exposed to the danger of abandonment in the desert if they ever get there to being abused, and their travel documents seized by “this heartless organized criminals that specializes in trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrants.”
“The Comptroller General therefore expresses dismay that even with recent arrest at Kongolam, the victims mostly youths are still falling to the antics of the human smugglers exposing them to the risks that may jeopardize their future and sometimes lead to death in the desert or elsewhere if not for the proactiveness of the gallant operatives that have stepped up patrol and other control measures in compliance with the CGI directive on operating an airtight border security and patrol to stop irregular migration out of and into Nigeria across all the countries border frontiers.
“The Forward Operation Bases across the country is yielding positively as the operatives have a befitting accommodation and vehicles and incentives to match. This has reduced tendency for any form of inducement that may prompt compromise in the course of carrying out their duties. The operatives are on top gear to guaranteeing safe and secured national borders for Nigeria”, it stated.
Photo: 28 victims of human trafficking intercepted at Kongolam-Katsina Border by NIS.
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