A 33-year-old woman and her accomplice have been arrested by the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Tema Regional Police Command for allegedly engaging in human trafficking.
The suspect, Margaret Nabista, who lives at Kpone, near Tema, and her accomplice, identified as Emmanuel Ashatey, were arrested at their hideout at Kpone at 3 p.m. on November 10, 2015 based on information received by the police that they were preparing to traffic 13 young girls and three young boys, aged between 15 and 20, to Kuwait and Jordan under the guise of evangelism.
The police, acting upon the intelligence gathered, proceeded to arrest them with the children.
Claim
A statement signed by the Tema Regional Police Commander, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCOP) , Mrs Beatrice Z. Vib-Sanziri, said Nabista had stated that she had brought the victims from Dambai in the northern part of the Volta Region to Kpone for evangelism because they themselves agreed to follow her since they were interested in evangelism.
According to the statement, further investigations led to the interception of seven passports bearing the names of some of the children from the suspect, adding that it was only after the police had found the passports that Nabista confessed to recruiting the children and preparing to traffic them to Kuwait and Jordan.
It said the victims had been relocated to a shelter pending further investigations.
It said after the investigations, efforts would be made to unite the children with their families.
Collaboration
Meanwhile, the Tema Regional Police Command has commended those whose vigilance and prompt action helped the police to arrest the culprits and stressed that it would welcome more of such collaboration between the police and the public in order to tackle all forms of crime, including human trafficking.
Caution
DCOP Vib-Sanziri cautioned parents who willingly gave out their children to people who came promising those children a better future elsewhere to desist from such practices, since most of those children ended up as either domestic or sex slaves in other countries.
