Sunday Yakubu, a suspected human trafficker, has explained that he engages in the criminal activity as a result of his ‘good heart.’
Yakubu said he engaged in human trafficking to help the victims become useful citizens and to earn a living. He also said that he was pushed into the crime because of poverty, adding that he thought he could stop as soon as he made enough money.
While being paraded before journalists in Ilorin on Thursday, Yakubu said he wanted to assist them overcome poverty.
The suspect who claimed to be an indigene of Tangita in Benin Republic, said he took the minors from his wife in Tabeda, Baruten Local Government Area, Kwara State.
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He added that he was conveying them to Ikoyi, Lagos State to work as beer parlour waiters. He also claimed that this was his first involvement in the business.
The Kwara State Comptroller, NIS, Mrs. Abimbola Abiodun-Ojo, said:
“On May 22, at Ilesha-Baruba, the suspect was intercepted with the effort of the National Union of Road Transport Workers because we had held a meeting with them that when they suspect any movement, concerning people moving in and out, they should intimate us.“The NURTW members called our men in Ilesha-Baruba who took him and the girls into custody there. I instructed that they should bring them to the office. This suspect has collected these children from two different families because they are all Beninese. These girls are below 18, they are minors.Through our subsequent interrogation, we were able to find out that he is taking them to one Mummy Monday in Ikoyi close to Ogbomoso for labour, and he is to collect N6,000 on each of them as monthly wages for a year.“
He told us they were relations of his wife. We noticed that there is no relationship between these girls and this guy because he claimed they live in the same neighbourhood.
