Operatives of the Delta State Police Command have rescued 23 teenagers trafficked to Delta State from the eastern part of Nigeria for prostitution.
The operatives, in the process of rescuing the teenagers in a hotel at Ughelli, also arrested 35 suspects in connection with the crime.
The woman, who runs the Big Dafe Hotel located along Ughelli/Patani Road, Chioma Edafe ‘f’ 36 years old from Umuogbezea Community in Imo State, was also arrested.
In a statement on Thursday, SP Bright Edafe intelligence gathered revealed that one Chinyere (a female) usually lures teenage girls from their parents in the South East with the promise to engage them as sales girls in Delta.
He gave the details in the statement below:
“On July 15, 2024, acting on credible information received by the Command on the activities of one Chinyere (surname unknown) who specialises in trafficking women from the East and brings them to Ughelli Delta State for prostitution.
“Intelligence further revealed that she lures them by telling them that they are coming to Delta State to work as a salesgirl in a restaurant.
“The Commissioner of Police Delta State, CP Olufemi Abaniwonda, who has zero tolerance for human and child trafficking, detailed the DPO Ekpan CSP Aliyu Shaba to immediately work on the gathered intelligence and ensure that the hotel is located and the suspect is arrested.
“Consequently, on July 15, 2024, at about 1900 hrs, one of the victims (name withheld) was located, and she revealed the illegal activities of the said suspect, Chinyere ‘f’, surname unknown, currently at large.
“She further stated that the suspect deceived her parents to follow her down to Delta State from Abia State to be a sales girl in a bar with a salary of $30,000 monthly; however, on July 12, 2024, she and two other young girls followed the suspect down to a town she later understood to be Ughelli, but on getting to their final destination, they saw other teenagers.
“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.
“Based on the information, a combined team of surveillance stormed the hotel ‘Big Dafe Hotel’ by Ughelli/Patani Road and arrested one Chioma Edafe ‘f’ 36 years of Umuogbezea Community in Imo State, who runs the hotel, and 35 others, of whom 23 are all teenagers.
“A serious manhunt for the main suspect, Chinyere, is ongoing.”
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