The Taraba Command of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) has arrested two suspects attempting to traffic 16 children.

The suspects were arrested on Thursday at the Jalingo Main Motor Park with the 16 children heading to Benin in Edo.

The state NSCDC commandant, Adamu Salihu, told journalists on Saturday in Jalingo that the suspects gave their names as Daniel Madin and Federation Markus.

Mr Salihu said the victims, aged between 10 and 16, comprising five girls and 11 boys, were taken from Zing and Bali Local Government areas of the state.

The commandant said that preliminary investigations revealed that the suspects were part of a bigger syndicate that specialised in trafficking underage children with the promise of a brighter future in Edo.

He, however, said that such children were often forced into dehumanizing jobs and the proceeds of such jobs confiscated from them by their handlers.

Mr Salihu decried the rate at which parents abdicate the responsibilities of raising their children, opting to hand them over to strangers for a pittance.

“How can one give birth to children and expect others to take responsibility for their feeding, clothing, education, and general well-being?

“Most of the children taken from the state are sold into child labour and prostitution while others are used as materials for baby factories, organ harvesting, and money rituals.

“My concern is that all the victims of this heinous crime are children who are of school age but forced to leave school by their parents and relatives even now that the Taraba Government has made basic education free and compulsory for all children,” he said.

“This trend must stop immediately”, the commandant added and called on relevant stakeholders in the state to take adequate measures to end the rising trend of human trafficking.

The suspects and the 16 children were handed over to officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, for further investigation and prosecution.

(NAN)