The Benue State Police Command, on Wednesday said it has rescued 23 victims of suspected human trafficking while they were being conveyed from Buruku Local Government Area of the state to an unknown destination. State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, disclosed this when he paraded one Prince Masenenger Tar as the suspected trafficker who was conveying the 23 people out of the state in an 18-seater bus belonging to the Benue State Transport Company known as Benue Links.
Owoseni said that a team of policemen on a routine patrol intercepted the vehicle on April 1st around Buruku area on suspicion that the victims who are between the ages of 12 and 45 were being trafficked.
He said:” investigation revealed that the victims were lured by the suspect on promises of providing them with jobs at Kiama in Kwara State but that they were actually going to be taken outside the country to Niger for exploitation”.
“The victims would be handed over to their parents/guardians while the suspected trafficker will face the law.
Speaking to reporters, after being paraded, the suspect, Prince Tar, however denied that he was trafficking the people for exploitation.
According to him, he had a restaurant in Kwara state that he wanted the two ladies among the alleged victims to work having settled their parents of the sum of N10, 000 monthly salary while the others were only going to join their relatives living in Kwara state.
