A-33-year-old, Hasana Jacob, a truck driver with a popular cement company located in Obajana, near Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria has been arrested by the combined effort of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP and its sister agency, the Department of State Service, DSS.
The suspect along six other suspected members of human trafficking syndicate were arrested for attempting to sell of a three-year-old girl.
Meanwhile, the 22-tyred cement truck used to traffic the child has been impounded by NAPTIP.
The alleged accomplices are Aisha Suleiman, Murtala Tanimu, Shamsu Tanimu, Adamu Jacob, Abubakar Ahmed, and Ali Muhammed.
The suspected human trafficking gang were arrested in Abuja by the operatives of DSS while trying to sell off their latest victim.
The arrest of the arrowhead was communicated to journalists by Vincent Adekoye, Press Officer, NAPTIP.
According to him, “The renewed onslaught and crackdown on human traffickers across the country by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, in synergy with sister Law Enforcement Agencies and other stakeholders, has continued to yield results as a female arrowhead of an interstate human trafficking gang that specialised in the stealing and trafficking of children from one part of Nigeria to the other, has been arrested.
Truck driver, prime suspect
“The suspect, Hasana Jacob, 33 years old from Mangu Local Government of Plateau State is an alternate female truck driver of a popular cement company located in Obajana, near Lokoja, Kogi State which is a subsidiary of a flourishing multi-billion-naira business empire in Nigeria (name withheld).
“She was arrested along with the cement truck branded in the name and logo of the company together with 6 other suspected members of the gang namely Aisha Suleiman, Murtala Tanimu, Shamsu Tanimu, Adamu Jacob, Abubakar Ahmed, and Ali Muhammed, in Abuja by the operatives of the Department of State Service, DSS, while trying to sell off their latest victim, a 3-year-old girl that was stolen from Damaturu, Yobe State.
“Investigation revealed that Hasana Jacob commands a professional human trafficking syndicate that specialises in stealing children between the ages of one and above and selling them to interested buyers at the rate of N600,000.00 (Six Hundred thousand Naira) each.
“The report indicates that because Hasana is a truck driver with this popular cement company, it was very easy for her to steal children at any of the terminals across the country, evade security checks on the roads, and deliver such stolen children to her gang members at any location without being noticed.
“It is strongly suspected that the syndicate has membership across the country with different roles. While some members of the trafficking ring, hunt and lure victims to the truck terminal where they will be picked up by Hasana, others arrange interested buyers at any of the terminals across the country even before the arrival of the victim thereby making it fast for the gang leader to dispose of the stolen child and collect her money.
Adekoye further noted that the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello thanked the Director General of the DSS for his sustained support to the Agency which culminated in the arrest of the human trafficking syndicate, as she expressed sadness over the situation describing it as a heinous crime against humanity.
The NAPTIP Director General spoke through the Director, Research and Programme Development, Mr. Josiah Emerole.
According to her, “I am deeply sad by the latest arrest. It is painful to note that human beings will organise a criminal gang, use a branded vehicle of a company, move from one part of the country to another, steal children belonging to other families, and sell them to interested buyers whose motives for the children are not known.
“They create everlasting sorrow and pain for those families and smile to the bank after selling those children. This is unimaginable and it is a condemnable act of wickedness. This is more painful when the arrowhead of this evil syndicate is a woman who knows the pain of motherhood.
“I sincerely appreciate the support of the Director General and Operatives of the DSS for the Agency in the fight against human trafficking. I thank other sister Law Enforcement Agencies also and I sue for more robust cooperation as we continue to scale our activities to ensure the protection of our children from human traffickers in Nigeria”, the Director General said.
It would be recalled that the Director General of NAPTIP, Bello upon assumption of Office towards the end of last year, embarked on targeted advocacy visits to other sister Law Enforcement Agencies, Civil Society organisations, and other stakeholders, with an emphasis on improved cooperation, support, and collaboration in the fight against human trafficking.
