15-yr-old Nigerian student sold to Libya as sex slave for N10,000 by mother's cousin

One of the suspects arrested in connection with the kidnap of Precious Ugochi Okoro, a 15-year-old student who was abducted and sold into prostitution in Libya, has confessed that he was paid N10,000.

Kelvin Okorie, a cousin to the victim's mother, confessed that he collected the money as payment after handing her over to the traffickers when he was paraded alongside other suspects at the Lagos Police Command headquarters in Ikeja.

Ugochi, who was a boarding student at Ikenne Community High School, Ikenne, Ogun State, was abducted in May 2014 following an attack by cultist on the way to the school.

She was taken to Libya and forced into prostitution until Police in Lagos rescued her this month, one year after.

Okorie was reportedly involved in the search for Ugochi after her disappearance, despite being the brain behind it.

Ugochi said she was taken into Libya and tortured into prostitution, 12 days after her abduction.

Her account as published in Vanguard:

“I was taken to the connection house, where I saw over 1,000 naked Nigerian girls. I told them to put on their clothes that men were passing by. They laughed at me and called me a JJC.

“Later, the coordinator who we referred to as Madam came and said I should undress and start work. When I refused, I was beaten to a state of coma, with my clothes torn into shreds. This torture continued for days until I succumbed by sleeping with men.

“I was told I had to raise the three thousand dollars used to bring me to Libya and another 3,000 Libya dinars for accommodation and feeding.

“But to my surprise, when I finished paying with the proceeds from prostitution, I was sold to a lady, who turned out to be my saviour.

"It was through her I contacted my mother."

The Command boss, Kayode Aderanti, said the abductors severally contacted the teenager's family and demanded various sums as ransom before the police waded in.

“I ordered a thorough and diligent investigation geared towards liberating the victim from her captors and arresting the masterminds of the plot," Aderanti said.

“Numerous suspects were arrested but the breakthrough came when a decoy team of SARS, led by Abba Kyari, arrested one Kelvin Okorie, a cousin to the mother of the victim.

"Through him, contact was established with the gang’s member in Libya, which subsequently led to her safe return on Friday, April 24."

He said the police is working with INTERPOL towards the release of other teenagers who are in the same plight Ugochi was rescued from.

A second suspect, Ogbonna Njoku, a compact discs dealer at Alaba, and brother to Okorie, had denied knowledge of his brother's involvement in kidnaping.