The Delta State Police Command has rescued 25 victims of human trafficking in the Ughelli area of the state.
The Command’s spokesperson, SP Bright Edafe, made the announcement on Thursday in Asaba, the state capital.
He explained, “On June 15, 2024, acting on credible information received by the command on the activities of one Chinyere (surname unknown) who specialized in trafficking women from the South-East and brought them to Ughelli, Delta State for prostitution, intelligence further revealed that she lured them by telling them that they were coming to Delta State to work as sales girls in a restaurant.”
“The Commissioner of Police Delta State, CP Abaniwonda Olufemi, who has zero tolerance for human/child trafficking detailed the DPO Ekpan, CSP Aliyu Shaba, to immediately work on the gathered intelligence and ensure that the hotel was located and the suspect arrested,” Edafe added.
One of the victims shared her experience, saying, “The suspect deceived my parents to follow her to Delta State from Abia State to be a sales girl in a bar with a salary of N30,000 monthly.” However, upon reaching Ughelli, the victim, along with two other young girls, discovered they were brought for prostitution.
“They were naked and were informed that it was prostitution they were brought for which they declined and as a result, they were immediately thrown out of the hotel,” Edafe said.
Following this information, a team of police officers raided ‘Big Dafe Hotel’ on Ughelli-Patani Road. They arrested Chioma Edafe, 36, who runs the hotel, and 35 others, among whom 23 were teenagers.
Edafe stated, “A serious manhunt for the main suspect Chinyere is ongoing.”
Some of the rescued teenage girls shared their stories, revealing they were misled about the nature of their employment.
One of the survivors from Abia State, identified simply as Chinyere, told the police, “They said we were going to be working at a bar and that they would be paying us N30,000. They brought us to a hotel in Ughelli. They brought us to the hotel for prostitution. But when we refused, they told us to leave. They said if we want to stay in the hotel for the night, we should pay N25,000.”
Another survivor from Anambra State, known simply as Okoro, recounted, “It was Chinyere (the female suspect) who brought us from Anambra State. She said I should come to work at a restaurant. She said I would be paid N35,000 for the work. But she took us to a hotel. When we got there, we realized what they were doing was prostitution. I spent two weeks there. The first day I got there, she said I should ‘go and mount’ after which she gave me some clothes to wear. When I told her I didn’t understand what mounting was, she told me to go outside and shake my body so that men would see me.”
