The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons have arrested five women for allegedly trafficking girls from Nigeria and then force them into prostitution in United Arab Emirates.
The suspects were identified as Blessing Gabriel, 25; Precious Ejiro-Owoh, 29; Rose Gabriel, 25; Priscilla Bassey, 33; and Terry Smooth, 38.
They were arrested on Tuesday, September 8, 2015.
The suspects confessed to taking two girls to Dubai and turned them to commercial sex workers.
They also admitted that they filmed the girls takng the oath of allegence totally naked and then shared the videos online after two of the victims Ann and Chisom, escaped from Dubai in August 2015.
Ann has been rescued by the agency and is being rehabilitated at the NAPTIP office.
A member of the gang, Blessing was arrested during her traditional marriage, in Agboroko, Iba area of Lagos.
Blessing, who claims to be an employee of a travel agency in Dubai, revealed that she sent N35,000 to bring Ann from Nigeria as a commercial sex worker in Dubai.
She said: “I did not know the victim from anywhere. Gina, who has not yet been arrested, is my friend in Dubai. She was the one who told me that she needed a girl from Nigeria to do “runs”. I then told Precious, my Nigerian friend, to get me someone.
“Gina sent N35,000 to prepare the girl that would be brought. That was in July. So, it happened that the girl, Ann, was brought to Dubai. I personally went to pick her from the airport.
“When she came to Gina, the girl was taken inside a room, stripped and asked to say an oath. I was not there; I was not the person that stripped her. She did the job for about a month before she fled from Dubai.
“I knew they were bringing her for commercial sex; and she was also aware. She told Precious that she was ready to travel out of the country and do any kind of work.”
Commenting on the incident, the Lagos State director of NAPTIP, Joseph Famakin, said: “The victim was recruited from Lagos for Blessing, who was in Dubai. Blessing was responsible for her travel expenses. The process of preparing her for Dubai was coordinated by Blessing’s sister, Rose Gabriel.
“On arrival in Dubai, the oath was forcefully administered on her, and it was recorded on video. This recording was later released on Youtube after she escaped from her exploiters in Dubai. She was forced into prostitution contrary to the initial promise of being given a job at a hair dressing saloon.”
