Two suspected human traffickers have been remanded by a High Court sitting in Benin, Edo State for the alleged trafficking of young girls to Europe for prostitution and sexual exploitation.
The suspects, identified as Gift Okon and Omokaro Valentine, were remanded to a correctional centre in the state, NIGERIACRIME learnt.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons had earlier dragged Okon and Valentine before the court on two counts of procuring and harbouring underage girls for prostitution and exploitation.
According to NAPTIP’s counsel, Oburoh Okanigbuan, the offence contradicts Section 13(2) (b) of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act, 2015.
Okanigbuan told the court that sometime in April 2023, the suspect procured underage twin sisters and indigene of Akwa Ibom State, knowing that they would be subjected to prostitution and exploitation.
Furthermore, the counsel stated thag the suspects also harboured the twin sisters in a brothel in Benin for the purpose of prostitution and exploitation.
The suspects pleaded not guilty when the charges were read to them and requested bail.
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NAPTIP’s counsel prayed the court to remand the suspects in custody to enable the agency to conclude the investigation and asked for a date to commence the hearing.
Justice Geraldine Imadegbelo, however, remanded the suspect to Benin correctional centre and adjourned the case till June 14 for a hearing.
In another news, the Kano State Police Command, on Wednesday, paraded 93 suspects arrested for various offences in different areas of the metropolis between May 27 and May 29, 2023.
Briefing newsmen at the premises of the Command’s headquarters at Bompai, the Commissioner of Police in the state, Mohammed Gumel, stated that before the inauguration ceremony, the police warned troublemakers to repent and become law-abiding.
According to the CP, some of the youths heeded the advice, pointing out that the recalcitrant among them, who declined the advice have ended up in the police net.
He added that they would be charged in court shortly after the investigation for prosecution.
“I am confident that the law courts would take the appropriate steps and action that will serve as a deterrent against prospective criminals.”
Prominent among criminals paraded at Command include 56 suspects for phone snatching from whom 18 phones were recovered while no fewer than 157 various types of weapons were recovered from others.