Human Trafficking: Police arrest 4 suspects in Adamawa

The Police in Adamawa have confirmed the arrest of four suspects in connection with the trafficking of 24 children from the state.

DSP Sulaiman Nguroje, the Police Spokesperson in the state, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Tuesday in Yola.

NAN recalls that Mr Sikiru Akande, the Commissioner of Police in the state, earlier told the agency that the command had rescued 24 under-aged children, who were taken away from the state for child labour and other human trafficking purposes.

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According to Akande, the boys and girls, who are indigenes of Adamawa State, and who was taken from some villages across Madagali Local Government Area (LGA),  were rescued by the command.

Nguroje told NAN that the four suspects were also indigenes of Adamawa, from Madagali.

“The Command has arrested suspects in connection with the Trafficking of 24 under-aged children from Adamawa, and the investigation is on course.

The suspects are Dakam Peter (m) 30, Nicolas Vishe (m) 29, Luka Yarima (m) 49, and Yusuf Garwa (m) 35, and all of them are indigenes of Madagali LGA,” Nguroje said.

He told NAN that the suspects sometimes in 2020, deceived the parents of the victims in a Church in Madagali, under the guise of a charity organisation.

He said that the suspects registered many children with the promise of giving them scholarships to study in some schools in Jos.

“It was after the academic calendar that one of the parents demanded to see his 10-year-old son, Aliyu Salihu.

“The suspects continued dragging the issue and refused to bring Aliyu back to his father. 

“Salihu began to suspect foul play and decided to report the matter to the Police.

“After investigation, the Police, with the support of Adamawa State Government, uncovered that many children were trafficked from the area,” Nguroje said.

According to him, the suspects confessed to having sold out many children to some people in Plateau, Imo, Enugu and Kaduna states among others.

He said the investigation was on course and the command was making progress in recovering other children, though the birth names of some of them had been changed.

He said that the children, males and females, were between the ages of seven and 13 years.

He appealed to the public to report any suspicious activities around them to the nearest police station for prompt action.

One of the children, who spoke to NAN said that they were taken from their villages by a charity organisation, through their Churches.

“They (the Organisation), told us they are going to enrol us in some higher standard schools in Jos.

“But upon our arrival in Jos, sometime in October 2021, they shared among some people.

“Some of us were taken to Kaduna, some to unknown destinations, and we were forced to go to the farm.

“The school they promised to enrol us into is not better than our former schools in Madagali,” one of the children, whose identity is being protected, said.

NAN reports that Madagali is one of the LGAs ravaged by Boko Haram terrorists in  Northern Adamawa.