The Kano State Hisbah Command has arrested a human trafficking agent at a motor park on Sunday with 12 women who were about to depart for Lagos.

The Deputy Commander General (DCG) of Hisbah, Sheikh Mujahideen Aminuddeen, announced the arrest in a WhatsApp voice statement on Monday.

He said the man was apprehended by command officials at a motor park along Zaria Road.

Aminuddeen disclosed that the Hisbah operatives, led by Muhammad Bashir, the Operation Commander (OC) of motor parks, arrested the agent, who is reportedly from Borno State. He was boarding a vehicle to Lagos with the victims.

According to Aminuddeen, preliminary information shows the man was trafficking the women, each with an international passport, to Sierra Leone via Lagos, Benin Republic, and Ghana. He also stated that the man planned to facilitate visas for the victims to travel to Saudi Arabia in search of better opportunities.

Aminuddeen added that during interrogation, the women informed Hisbah that each had paid an initial fee of N1,500,000, with an agreement to pay the remaining balance once they secured a job in their destination country.

Among the victims, one woman is 50 years old, two are 23, two are 20, and the others are mostly 15 years old.

He further disclosed that three of the victims are from Katsina, two from Kano, and one each from Borno, Jigawa, and Zamfara states.

He called the situation unfortunate, stating, “The money they paid for this trip is enough for them to start a business in their respective states. I wonder if they understood the risks involved in this kind of journey.”

“We called on their guardians, parents, and loved ones to caution them against these types of trips,” he said. “We arrested the man at a motor park in Kano. We were informed they were on their way to Lagos, from Lagos to the Benin Republic, then Ghana, where the agent would work on their visas for Saudi Arabia,” he explained.

He also lamented, “If the visa process fails, they would be moved to Sierra Leone. Even if they secure the visa to Saudi Arabia, there is no specific work for them there. This is dangerous and unfortunate.”

Aminuddeen concluded by stating that Hisbah had handed over the agent and the victims to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigation. (Nigerian Tribune)