NIS Rescues Three Trafficked Victims, One Agent In Jigawa

By Mohammed Abubakar Dutse

The Nigeria Immigration Service, (NIIS) has intercepted three victims of human trafficking and a suspected trafficker in Jigawa state.

The victims included two female and a male, whose ages rage between 17-32 years were intercepted at Tsamiyar Ilu Check point in Kazaure local government area in the north west Jigawa state on Tuesday.

Parading the victims and the suspected agent before newsmen at the NIS headquarters in Dutse on Wednesday, the State Comptroller of Immigration, Mr. Samson Umar Agada confirmed that all the victims, including two siblings of the same parents, were from Kogi state, while the suspected accomplice was their uncle.

“Upon their interception and subsequent profiling and interrogation, the victims confessed to us that, they were on their way to Daura local government area of Katsina and to cross over to Libya. Upon further interrogation, they confessed that they have a sister who is residing in Libya, they intended to join her.

“The accomplice, Mr. Mustapha Zulqarlaini, who claims to be the uncle of the victims, who facilitates their journey from Kano to Daura was also invited from Kano to also confirmed their mission.”

Agada confirmed the victims embarked on the journey with the consent of their parents, who he said cited the current economic hardship and chronic poverty, noting that the issue of poverty should not be an excuse.

“We are, therefore, using this medium to appeal to all parents to watch over their children from being decieved by Mustapha Zulqarlaini.”

He subsequently handed over the victims and the suspected accomplice to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons ( NAPTIP), whose State Commander, Abdulkarim Siirajo, promised a thorough investigation and subsequent prosecution of the accomplice to serve as a deterrent.