A suspected human trafficker has been arrested by Operatives of Rapid Response Squad of Lagos State Police Command while trying to transport two willing teenagers through Lagos to Abidjan for commercial sex work.
The suspect, Martha Edea, 30, a mother of two who hails from Ogoja in Cross River State, was arrested in Lagos after travelling with the young girls from Benin, Edo State.
Martha confessed that she was trafficked to Ivory Coast by one Mariam who told her she could get good jobs in the country but ended up prostituting for months so she could pay back her custodian who brought her to Abidjan.
Martha said: “I worked for three months to pay Mariam N180,000 to balance her for my transportation into Ivory Coast and also for connecting me.” She added that Mariam after collecting the money travelled to Spain abandoning her as a sex worker.
The mother of two who left her children in the village with her mother couldn’t find a headway in the business after her connector had travelled to Spain. She further explained that she yielded to her friend’s advise to come back to Nigeria to recruit young girls for the business.
One of the victims, Francess Bamidele, a 19-year-old secondary school dropout, said she was happy about the offer when told.
Deborah recruited Elo Etim, 18. Martha in her statement said, ‘I met with Elo’s mother and told her what her daughter was about to embark on in Abidjan and she agreed to it, she also prayed for her and wished her good luck.”
Elo confirmed that her mother was elated about the journey that she gave her some money and phone number to call when she got to Ivory coast.
Emeh Achanga,the CEO of the Miss Petite Nigeria Brand is a lawyer turned blogger. She is very passionate about writing, with several publications and awards to her credit .She is currently working on publishing a collection of short stories which are basically a memoir about her exciting true experiences.
