8 Sex Trafficked Girls Rescued, 7 Repatriated To Nigeria

Eight girls who were trafficked to Ghana to be sex workers have been rescued, with seven of them repatriated to Nigeria by the Ghana Police Service and the Cape Coast office of the Social Welfare Department. The young girls, aged between 15 and 22, were trafficked into the country under the pretext of securing them white-collar jobs to enable them to improve their standard of living.

Two of the girls were rescued at Diaso, the Upper Denkyira West District capital, three at Mankessim in the Mfantseman Municipality, and three at Assin Awisen in the Assin South Municipality of the Central Region. However, a 22 year old lady among them was later freed by the Department when the caretaker of the Social Welfare Shelter reported that she was causing problems at the home.

Mr Alexander Ofosu Yeboah, the Unit Head in-charge of the Children Residential Home of the Department, in an interview said human trafficking cases were mostly high during vacations. The rescued girls were repatriated through the International Organisation for Migration after identifying their families in Nigeria.

He said the perpetrators deceived the victims, who were secondary school girls, of providing basic needs and giving them jobs that could change their lives and make them comfortable. According to Mr Yeboah, the rescue mission was possible based on intelligence gathered by the police and the victims reporting the incident to them after realising they had been deceived.

The Department provided shelter for them throughout their stay in the country until they were identified and sent back to their country. The perpetrators, all Nigerians, are on the run except one female who was arrested and sentenced to five years imprisonment in hard labour, Mr Yeboah said.