Officials of the Delta State Ministry of Women Affairs, Community and Social Development have rescued twenty–two children from suspected child traffickers in the Warri area of the state.
The victims believed to be from the South-Eastern states of Anambra, Abia, Imo and Ebonyi were allegedly being used through street begging by the seven suspected women who allegedly faked blindness while in Warri.
Speaking to journalists in Asaba, the state capital, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs Kevwe Agas, said the suspects allegedly deceived the parents of the children that they were coming to Delta for educational pursuit.
According to her, “FIDA drew our attention to the fact that there were some children on Airport Road, Warri, begging, and that three of them went specifically to a lady that sells close by who told them that some women brought them to Warri to beg, but that they actually told their parents that they were bringing them to school.
“And since they came to Warri, they have been begging and sleeping on the streets. In addition to FIDA, our officers went to the police and we got the police to arrest them.
“We rescued 22 children and arrested seven women who feigned blindness. Upon investigation, we discovered that the women were not even blind but were just feigning it and using the children to beg on the streets.”
She said the victims and the suspects would be handed over to the state police command and prosecuted in accordance with the state Child Rights Act.
Agas added that efforts would be made to reunite the victims with their respective families through their state governments.
“So we brought them to Asaba and we are taking them to the police headquarters. We are going to reunite the children with their families in their respective states. The children are from Anambra, Ebonyi, Imo and Abia states, that is what we have been able to establish.
“The women would be prosecuted because there is a Child Right Law in Delta State that prohibits begging and exploitation of children. Even NAPTIP would be involved in this because it has to do with trafficking,” she added.
