The Anambra State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Welfare Mrs Ify Obinabo has rescued about twelve girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five at a Guest Inn in Amawbia Awka South Local Government Area.
The raid was done in collaboration with the Anambra State Police Command following a tip off from a whistleblower.
Three amongst the rescued girls are underage and the Commissioner has contacted their family members and subsequently taken them to hospital for medical examination and possible treatment.
Speaking in her office in Awka, Mrs Obinabo restated the State governments commitment to ending all forms of child kidnapping, trafficking and sex slavery in the State.
Mrs Obinabo while recounting how she was able to apprehend the suspect assisted by the police warned hotel owners to desist from using underaged girls in running their businesses or face the full weight of the law.
The three underaged girls who are all from Ebonyi State while sharing their experiences disclosed that they were taken by one Ifeoma and Chika from their houses in Izza and brought to Awka on the promises of securing them a job but to their greatest surprise was forced to prostitution.
They revealed that the women who brought them to the brothel seized their phones and other belongings before handing them over to another woman who notified them that they will only be released if they bring the sum of one hundred and fifty thousand naira or serve her for a period of one year.
According to them, they were able to use a whistle blowers’ phone to get across to their families and the whistle blower in turn notified the Women Affairs Ministry which with the help of the police busted the brothel.
On how much they make daily at the brothel, the girls said they were mandated to bring between ten thousand and fifteen thousand naira every night and forty thousand naira every Sunday whereas any man they slept with usually pay the sum of one thousand naira and above which causes a lot of issues between them and their madam.
On her part, one of the parents of the girls, Mrs Uchechi Friday said upon her daughter’s disappearance, she lodged a complaint at the police station in Abakaliki but was shocked when she got a call from her daughter which made her to seek help from the Women and Social Welfare Commissioner of Anambra State.
Mrs Friday thanked the Commissioner for her prompt response and urged other parents to always be at alert and conscious of their children’s welfare and whereabouts.
The case has since been transferred to State Criminal Investigation Department Awka, for comprehensive investigation and will be consequently charged to court.
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