From Umar Danladi Ado, Sokoto
The Nigeria Immigration Service, Illela Border Command has arrested a cross-border human trafficker, Rukaya Hassan with two underage girls trying to cross the border to the Niger Republic.
This is in a swift response to the morale-boosting charge of their new Comptroller of Immigration shortly on assumption to duty recently.
A statement issued by Mohammed Abdullahi (DSI), the Command’s PRO Tuesday in Sokoto stated the officers and men of the Command have arrested a 25-year-old young lady, Rukaya Hassan, who attempted to traffic two underage girls across the border to the Niger Republic.
During interrogation, the young lady who resides in the Giribshi area of Sokoto confessed that she did not know the two young girls she was travelling with to Niger, but that they were handed over to her by one woman in Sokoto, named Maman Adnan.
She said that Adnan had paid for their transport to Niger, and requested her to help take the two girls to another woman in Niger, named Amina Yunusa who will give them jobs in her restaurant in Niamey.
Further examination revealed that the two teenagers, Nabila Ibrahim, 17 years and her sister, Zainab Ibrahim, 15 years, said they hailed from Zuru LGA in Kebbi state and were going to Niger to resume work in a certain restaurant which they didn’t know the owner, but that their parents approved of their trip.
The Comptroller of Immigration, Illela Command, Tony Akuneme, PCC who conducted the interviews personally handed over the two victims and the suspected trafficker to the Head of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Sokoto State, for further investigation and possible prosecution.
The CIS thanked his officers for their diligence and promised to reward outstanding personnel.
He also committed to sustaining the campaign against the smuggling of migrants and trafficking in persons, to cascade the efforts of the Comptroller General of Immigration, Kemi Nanda, PCC.
