Edo Taskforce Rescues Two Minors From Alleged Trafficking to Libya
The Edo State Migration Agency has rescued two teenage girls who were being trafficked to Libya.
The Director-General of the agency, Lucky Agazumah, disclosed on Thursday, September 11, 2025, that the victims, aged 13 and 14 — one of whom is a sickle cell patient — were intercepted in Zaria, Kaduna State.
According to him, the girls were deceived by traffickers with promises of better opportunities abroad, including working as domestic helps.
Addressing journalists at the agency’s headquarters in Benin City, Agazumah revealed that the transport company that conveyed the unaccompanied minors would face sanctions. He added that some co-conspirators have already been arrested.
Agazumah further vowed that the state would intensify efforts to clamp down on human trafficking, stressing that “there will be no hiding place for traffickers in Edo.”
“The two female minors, among them, a sickle cell sufferer, in Edo State, aged 13 and 14, have been rescued while being trafficked to Libya. The minors had already gotten to Zaria in Kaduna State when their trafficker pressured them to return because his mother, Comfort Etim, was in the police net. They left Edo on Sunday and returned on Wednesday night,” he said.
Agazumah said the girls said they were told they would be taken to Italy to work as maids to an old couple, but that they should not tell their parents.
They said their sponsor put them in a bus and gave them a number to call when they got to Kano State.
“The boy told me her sister is in Italy and that she and her husband were old. He said they don’t have any children. He told me not to tell my mother. He said we should call our parents when we get abroad. They said the second girl does not look well, but she said she is well,” one of them, who identified herself as Success, said.
“They took us to a motor park in Aduwawa and placed us inside a bus to Kano State. He told the driver we were going to Kano and gave us a number to call when we got to Kano. He gave us hijab, milk, golden morn and water. I am happy that I am back home.”
The other victim, who is suffering from sickle cell, said she wanted to surprise her mother when she got to Italy.
“The boy told me her sister is 78 years old. I said that if I go, I will surprise my mother. I told them my body is sound. He told us to wear the hijab when we get to Kano. We are to call a man in Kano who will take us in from there. When we got to Zaria, he called us to return home, but the Kaduna man asked us to continue the journey,” she said.
The mother of the suspected trafficker, Comfort Etim, said her daughter had previously taken six minors to Libya.
She said her daughter interrogated the children before she agreed to take them to the motor park.
