50 sex workers rescued, traffickers arrested as Navy raid brothels

The Nigerian Navy Ship (NNS) Pathfinder in collaboration with the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), have rescued 50 sex workers, as it raided two brothels in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital.

In the course of the string operation, which saw Royal and Cool Breeze brothels both located on Azikiwe Road, Diobu in Port Harcourt, raided, three suspected recruiters of prostitutes got arrested.

Parading the suspects at the military base, the Information Officer of the base, Lieutenant Commander Rasheed Iginla noted that efforts are ongoing to track and arrest the real kingpins and traffickers, adding that on completion of profiling, the suspects and victims will be handed over to NAPTIP, the appropriate agency for further investigation and prosecution.

He said: “The intelligence actually came from NAPTIP, they have been tracking this particular brothel that camps children or juveniles and some of them are 14 years old. “So, when they brought the intelligence in conjunction with NSCDC, a team was set up and we went into action and interestingly you can see for yourself the number of people that were brought out of the hotel. Sadly, some of the victims are as young as 14 years old.”

While advising parents and caregivers to take the welfare and responsibility of parenting their children and wards more seriously, Iginla assured that the Nigerian Navy will collaborate with relevant agencies to bring perpetrators to justice.

When interviewed, some of the rescued victims said they were lured into prostitution by the arrested sex traffickers in the guise of coming to work as house help from their various villages.