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The operatives of Delta State Police Com­mand have smashed a syndicate that spe­cialised in human trafficking and child prostitution business.

Operatives said 35 victims were res­cued during the operation.

Bright Edafe, Police Public Relations Officer(PPRO), Delta State Police Com­mand confirmed the incident.

Edafe, a Superintendent of Police (SP), said that on July 15, 2024, acting on credible information on the activities of one Chinyere (surname unknown), who specializes in trafficking women from the Eastern part of the country and bringing them to Ughelli, Delta State for prostitu­tion.

“Intelligence further revealed that she lures them by telling them that they are coming to Delta State to work as sales girls in a restaurant.”

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The PPRO said that the Commission­er of Police, Delta State, CP Abaniwonda Olufemi, who has zero tolerance for hu­man/child trafficking detailed the DPO Ekpan, CSP Aliyu Shaba to immediately work on the gathered intelligence and ensure that the hotel is located and the suspect arrested.

Consequently, he added, on July 15, 2024 at about 7pm, one of the victims (name withheld) was located and she revealed the illegal activities of the said suspect Chinyere (f) surname unknown currently at large.

She further stated that the suspect de­ceived her parents to follow her down to Delta State from Abia State to be a sales girl in a bar with a salary of N30,000 monthly, however on July 12, 2024, she and two other young girls followed the sus­pect down to a town she later understood to be Ughelli, but on getting to their final destination, they saw other teenagers.

“They were naked and were informed that it was prostitution they were brought for which they declined and as a result, they were immediately thrown out of the hotel.

“Based on the information, a com­bined team of surveillance operatives stormed the hotel named ‘Big Dafe Ho­tel’ by Ughelli/Patani Road, and arrested one Chioma Edafe, female, 36yr-old of Umuogbezea Community in Imo State, who runs the hotel and thirty-five others among which twenty-three are all teen­agers. Serious manhunt for the main suspect Chinyere is ongoing.