The Seme Area Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service on Saturday received 66 trafficked Nigerians from Ghana.

The 66 trafficked Nigerians arrived at the Seme-Krake Joint Border Post office of immigration at about 4.00.p.m.

They comprised 59 women including children and seven young men.

Speaking with journalists, Area Controller of Seme command of NIS, Abdullahi Adamu, said the rescue efforts were in collaboration with the High Commissioner in Ghana.

He said, “The rescue mission was our collaborative efforts from here to Ghana, our Attache in Ghana with the assistance of the high commissioner in Ghana. They assisted us in apprehending these people and then they returned them to us. Now, from here will hand them over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons from where they will find their way back to their different destinations. They are 66 in number, male and female.”

The controller said that NIS was working and collaborating with the Ghanaian government to stop human traffickers.

Mr Adamu said the operation was a testament to commitment of the Comptroller-General of NIS, Kemi Nandap in combating smuggling of migrants, human trafficking and protection of vulnerable migrants.

The delegate from Ghana, a Detective Chief Inspector, Interpol Unit, Kpeli Kofi, said they rescued the trafficked Nigerians through collaborative efforts with the anti-human trafficking unit of the Ghana criminal investigation department.

Also, Inspector, Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, Ghana Police, Mutilda Dellir, said they had information that some people came from Nigeria to Ghana some months back.

She said, “So quickly, we had to interview them and ask them their reasons for coming to Ghana. We realised somebody may have influenced their coming to Ghana because they said when you work in Ghana you have a lot of money so that is the reason they are coming to Ghana.

“They also came with their children, a mother coming with about six children, some have one, some two. We realised that some traffickers brought them to Ghana but they did not tell us the truth. Consequently, we have to plan and organise with the Nigerian Embassy in Ghana, and bring them back since this is not the first time Anti-human trafficking in Ghana and NAPTIP in Nigeria are doing this.’’

Ms Dellir said the other eight ladies were picked up from different locations in Ghana, doing prostitution.

She said human trafficking had been an issue in Ghana and Nigeria, so, when we see these vulnerable ones, we try to interview them and ask them why they are there and what they were doing.

One of the trafficked Nigerians, Uche John from Port-Harcourt, Rivers State, said she was lured to Ghana with promises of a better life but was instead forced into prostitution.

She said she was happy to be back in the country, having learnt her lessons in Ghana.

On July 4, the Seme Area Command of the NIS said it rescued five victims of human trafficking in Côte d’Ivoire.

The NIS Seme comptroller said the Nigerian Immigration Attachés in Côte d’Ivoire, in collaboration with the Nigerian community in that country and some other partners worked tirelessly to identify and rescue the victims.

On July 20, the Federal Government said it rescued an additional 58 Nigerian women and children trafficked to Ghana.

A statement by the Director of Media, Public Relations, and Protocols for Nigerians in the Diaspora Commission, Abdur-Rahman Balogun, stated that with the latest development, a total of 105 people had been rescued in the last few months.

(NAN)