2nd March, 2024
Amotekun operatives in Osun state have arrested a 23-year-old suspected human trafficker, Isaac Okonu for allegedly trafficking five children from Akwa-Ibom State.
Osun Amotekun Corps Commandant, Brigadier-General Bashir Adewinmbi said the suspect was arrested at Ifetedo in Osun State because the driver of the vehicle transporting them was suspicious and alerted the operatives.
Adewinmbi said, “The suspect confessed to meeting the boys in a motor park in Akwa Ibom State begging for money, and he told them if they could follow him to Lagos State, he could provide a job for them, and he took them inside the transport vehicle without the consent of their parents or relatives and moved them down to Osun State, heading to Ajebandele, before luck ran against him at Ifetedo in Ife South Local Government of Osun State.
“The victims are David Dominic Udoh, 23, from Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom; Moses Ibom Sunday, 10, from Ikot Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State; David Sunday Okafor, 11, from Arujukwu Village in Akwa Ibom State; Wisdom Ukpong Bassey, 15, from Akwa Ibom State; and Hope Nwem Eto, 14, from Akwa Ibom State.”
According to Adewinmbi, the victims said that they were taken out of Akwa Ibom State without the consent of their parents or relatives. He stated that they said the suspect lied to them and said that he was taking them to Lagos State to provide jobs for them.
Adewinmbi said hat the suspect and the victims had been transferred to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Headquarters in Osogbo.