By Sunday Apah
The Delta State Police Command has achieved a significant victory in its relentless campaign against human trafficking, culminating in the apprehension of a suspected trafficker and the liberation of a 25-year-old victim.
The victim was allegedly enticed to Ivory Coast under deceptive pretenses.
This crucial arrest was prompted by a formal petition detailing how the suspect, Ese Betty Isiorho, 26, allegedly manipulated the victim with the false promise of an apprenticeship in hairdressing in Côte d’Ivoire.
Subsequent investigations unequivocally revealed that, upon her arrival in the foreign nation, the victim was coercively forced into prostitution.
Responding with decisive action to the petition, operatives from the Effurun Area Command swiftly apprehended Isiorho.
During intensive interrogation, the suspect confessed to orchestrating the trafficking of the 25-year-old victim and an additional young woman, also in her twenties, to Côte d’Ivoire.
There, they were purportedly handed over to an individual known only as “Madam Purity” for the explicit purpose of sexual exploitation.
Through persistent investigative endeavors and inter-agency collaboration, the 25-year-old victim was successfully extricated and repatriated to Nigeria.
She has since been reunited with her family and is currently receiving comprehensive medical care.
Efforts are actively underway to secure the safe return of the second victim, still believed to be in Côte d’Ivoire, and to dismantle the wider trafficking syndicate by apprehending its remaining members.
Commissioner of Police, Delta State Command, CP Yemi Oyeniyi, lauded the exceptional dedication of the officers involved in this operation.
He reiterated the command’s unwavering resolve to aggressively combat human trafficking and all manifestations of organized crime.
The Commissioner implored the public to maintain heightened vigilance and to promptly report any suspicious recruitment schemes or activities indicative of human trafficking to law enforcement.
