2 human traffickers jailed 10 years in Edo, Lagos

A Federal High Court in Benin has sentenced a 49-year-old woman to nine years in prison for human trafficking. The convict, Ehie Christy Ehirobo, who hails from Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, was arraigned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in 2011, on a three-count charge of […]

A Federal High Court in Benin has sentenced a 49-year-old woman to nine years in prison for human trafficking.

The convict, Ehie Christy Ehirobo, who hails from Orhionmwon Local Government Area of Edo State, was arraigned by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in 2011, on a three-count charge of procurement of person for prostitution, deceitful inducement and organising foreign travels which promote prostitution.

Ehirobo was said to have recruited the victim, a secondary school dropout, for her sister, Esther Ehirobo, aka Margret, who lived in Greece.

The trial judge, Justice A. M. Liman, thereafter sentenced the convict to three years imprisonment on each of the three counts, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Also, a Federal High Court in Lagos has convicted one Charles Osagie (aka Johnson), and sentenced him to one year imprisonment for human trafficking.

Osagie, 36, also from Edo State was charged to court by NAPTIP after being intercepted by officers of the Nigeria Immigration Service at Seme border, in the company of eight young girls, trying to cross into Benin Republic.

The presiding judge, Justice O.O. Oguntoyibo, following an admission of guilt and a plea for leniency by the defendant, sentenced Osagie to one year in prison without an option of fine.

Seven of the young women rescued reported that they were recruited via social media, Facebook and WhatsApp chat groups specifically, while one of them accused Osagie of hypnosis.

The victims, who have since been reunited with their families, said they were lured with the promise of getting jobs for them in Ghana as domestic helps.

The Director-General of NAPTIP, Dame Julie Okah-Donli, reacting to the judgment, cautioned young Nigerians not to heed to bogus job advertisements on social media, as they have become a fertile ground for recruiting young unsuspecting Nigerians into human trafficking.