The Edo Police Command has rescued seven juveniles from being trafficked overseas, according to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN).
Mr Philip Ogbadu, the state Commissioner of Police, told reporters in Benin on Friday that the victims were rescued as a result of an intelligence tip.

He claimed the captives, who were rescued on Thursday, comprised six girls and a boy who were reportedly destined for Cote d’Ivoire and Libya.
The victims, according to the commissioner, were between the ages of 16 and 20.

The females, who disguised themselves as Muslims by wearing hijab, were apprehended by police at the Isihor police checkpoint in Benin City, on the Benin-Lagos expressway, he added.

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The victims, who are from Delta, Edo, and Enugu states but all live in Edo, were reportedly recruited for the voyage by a sister of one of them, he added.

“They’re minors, six girls and one boy,” says the narrator. We discovered through questioning that they were being smuggled to Cote d’Ivoire by a relative of one of them.

“It’s a case of human trafficking,” says the prosecutor. He stated they will be turned over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for rehabilitation.

One of the victims later told reporters that her sister had planned the trip for someone in Libya.

“I am not the one who is transporting them. I’ll be in Libya, while they’ll be in Côte d’Ivoire. At the checkpoint at Isihor, we were detained.

“I am not the one who is enslaving the women. They demanded N200,000 from me, but the person trafficking the females is in Libya, and he paid money to sponsor the girls,” he explained.

Godfrey’s sister recruited them during a birthday celebration of one of their friends, according to one of the girls (name withheld).

“She asked if I wanted to go out and that there was jobs available there, such as cleaners, home assistance, and prostitution. She invited me to join them after I promised him I would do housework.

“We went to the guy who drove us on our journey and remained for three days.

“We were detained on Thursday at a police checkpoint when they searched our car and discovered Indian hemp on one of the lads in the vehicle,” she added.