GIS rescues 11 Nigerians trafficked

The Sampa Sector Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) in the Bono Region has rescued 11 Nigerians from alleged human trafficking agents on the Ghana-Ivory border in the Jaman North District.

They were victims of “Q-Net,” a popular fraudulent online scheme, which allegedly lured and defrauded them of huge sums of money under the pretext of securing them jobs abroad.

Assistant Commissioner of Immigration (ACI) John Morcher, the Sector Commander of the GIS, said with the support of their families and relations, all the victims had since been returned to their home countries.

They were trafficked and held hostage at Bondoukou, a city in northeastern Cote d'Ivoire, about 420 kilometres northeast of Abidjan, through some unapproved borders in the district.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Sampa, the Jaman North District capital and a border town, ACI Morcher said preliminary investigations revealed some unidentified commercial motorbike riders (Okada) in the area aided the traffickers.

The Okada riders aided the traffickers and transported the unsuspecting victims to cross the border to Cote d'Ivoire through some unapproved routes in the border communities.

ACI Morcher explained that a sensitisation team set up by the International Centre for Migration and Policy Development (ICMPD) and CDD-Ghana under its Cross-Border Crime and Human Trafficking sensitisation project being implemented in the district identified the victims.

The Sector commander lauded the implementation of the project, saying it had helped to enlighten the border communities on cross-border crimes.

ACI Morcher warned the Okada riders engaged in the unscrupulous and illegal practices to stop, saying culprits would be prosecuted under the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 Act 694.

The Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI) David Odoi Kpobi and Leader of the sensitiation team, told the GNA, that the victims escaped from a camp in Bondoukou and arrived at the Sampa border on Wednesday, October 11, 2023, around 1330 hours.

After subjecting them to rigorous profiling by the border security, it was revealed that they were victims of “Q-Net,” and investigations showed the traffickers had successfully defrauded them of huge sums of monies, he said.

Some of the victims confessed they had transferred huge sums of monies from Nigeria to their captors through some agents before they left Nigeria through Ghana to Cote d'Ivoire, with the hope to travel and work abroad, only for them to be held hostage and maltreated, DSI Kpobi stated.

GNA