Photo: Man arrested in Benue State over suspected human trafficking

A suspected human trafficker, Israel Lame was arrested with two young women in Gboko, Benue State by vigilantes while attempting to flee with them at the motor park en-route Lagos and then outside the country.
Spokesman of the the Benue State Police Command, ASP Moses Yamu, who paraded the suspect at the command’s headquarters in Makurdi with 15 others said Lame was arrested based on a tip off. The suspect who is of dual citizenry - Nigeria/Cameroun and claimed to be from Cross River State, specialized in trafficking young women whom he takes to Burkina Faso where he resides.

"He was arrested while trying to board a vehicle to Lagos in company of two young girls namely Timia Daasha, 20, from Plateau State and Joy Gideon, 24, from Benue," the PPRO said.

Speaking with Daily Trust in an interview, the suspect denied the allegation and said he has lived in Burkina Faso for one year and eight months as a teacher after graduating from Fidel Polytechnic in Gboko, Benue State.He said he knew one Mr. Simon Averla, a petty trader within the polytechnic.

"I was a student of Fidel Polytechnic, Gboko in the Department of Legal Studies. It was during my stay in the school that I met and became friends with Simon. So  we kept in touch and I was communicating with him while in Burkina Faso about job opportunities in that country."

The suspect claims that Simon initially accepted a sales representatives job for his wife but later declined. Daasha, a tailor’s apprentice denied Lame’s claim that she was the one who pressured him for the journey to Burkina Faso, adding that the suspect had been did everything possible to convince her to follow him.

"He kept persuading me to follow him that I won’t regret my decision after I had warned him that my aunty wouldn’t allow me to go on such trip. We concluded arrangement without any member of my family knowing except my brother and was about to move to Lagos from where we will go to Burkina Faso when we were arrested by vigilantes at a motor park in Gboko," Daasha said.

The second victim, Joy, a single mother of two said Lame met her at a salon in Gboko and told her about the job outside Nigeria where she could earn a lot of money. The suspect mounted so much pressure on her that she later agreed to leave with him.  Both women said Lame had assured them of taking care of all their travel bills and other expenses.


Source: Daily Trust