Police Arrest Two Suspected Traffickers, Rescue Three Victims

LUCKY LAWAL

Two lovers have been arrested for running a human trafficking syndicate. 27-year old Ikechukwu Egbulefu and 27-year old Vera John, were said to specialists in recruiting teenage girls from Imo, Akwa-Ibom and Rivers States for prostitution before they were arrested by operatives of the Lagos State Police Command. 

The suspects were arrested at their hideout at Wagbas Hotel Ajah, Lagos, where they camp girls as sex slaves.

Three victims, Helen Dickson (22yrs), Debora David (18yrs), and Chinwendu Onyekachi (18yrs) were all rescued at the hotel.

Investigations revealed that the suspects who recruited the girls from villages with a promise of a better life, took them to a shrine where they took oath of secrecy.

It was also learnt that the girls who slept with at least ten men each day delivered N20,000 daily to the suspects.

The Lagos State Police Commissioner, CP Imohimi Edgal, who paraded the suspects at the Command Headquarters in Ikeja on Monday, disclosed that the suspects were arrested following reliable information.

Edgal said, “the Command received information that one Ikechukwu Egbulefu  and Vera John were trafficking in human beings. It was alleged that they brought girls from other states such as Imo, Akwa-Ibom and Rivers States to Lagos State for prostitution. On the strength of the information, FSARS operatives were directed to investigate and arrest the suspects involved. Investigations led to the arrest of the suspects and the rescue of the victims of human trafficking. The victims confessed that the suspects lured them to Lagos with the promise of jobs and better living. They also narrated that they were taken to a shrine in Epe-Ijebu and were made to swear an oath that they would not abscond from the hotel”

“The painful aspect was that after sleeping with various men, they surrendered the proceeds to Vera John” the CP said.

In her confessional statement, Vera denied taking the girls to a shrine for oath taking. She insisted that the girls consented to engaging in prostitution.
She said, “I was arrested on June 28, 2018, for human trafficking. I met Helen two months ago after my lover, Ikechukwu, introduced her to me. I asked her if she had been briefed about the work she wanted to engage in and she said yes. I asked her how much Ikechukwu had told her she will be paid, she said N400,000. I however promised that if she worked well I will pay her up to one million Naira. She has worked for two months; in the morning after their return I will take the money from them. They pay N20, 000 for the four rooms while they eat N1,800 worth of food. I am also a commercial sex worker; I don’t know how many men they do sleep with daily, it was usually in the morning that they do hand over the proceeds from the previous day. We lived in a hotel; usually we all stand in front of the hotel and men come to make their choice. It was when we were not having enough patronage that I took the girls to a native doctor to make charms for us so that men can patronise us more. I didn’t do it to exploit them”

“So I went to a native doctor at Ijebu. The native doctor asked us to bring soap and also requested for their pubic hairs and from their head. But it was discovered that Chinwendu had shaved her pubic hair and so couldn’t participate in the rites. The other two participated and used hairs from their private with soap to prepare a concoction.  He told them to bath with the soap which will make them more attractive to make customers” Vera narrated.

On his part, Ikechukwu said that the plan was to settle the girls after one year and travel abroad with whatever he was able to gather from the business.

“I brought these girls to Lagos for prostitution. I knew Helen in Port Harcourt; she told me that her mother chased her away from home and that she needed a place to sleep. I took care of her and told her that I will take her to Lagos where she can stay and start working. That was how she came to Lagos and I took her to my girlfriend -Vera who kept her in a hotel for prostitution. We had plans to settle the girls after one year and I also wanted to travel out” Ikechukwu explained.

Dickson, who hailed from Akwa-Ibom State, said that her mother had chased her out of the house after she attended an all night party. She said that she had known Ikechukwu in Port Harcourt and so told him about her ordeal.  He agreed to help her and promised taking her to work in a boutique in Lagos. When they got to Lagos eventually, he took her to Madam Vera who then told her it was prostitution she had come to do. She said that she had no option as she did not have money to go back to Port Harcourt. She stayed back and started as a sex worker before being taken to a native doctor where they swore oath of loyalty and secrecy.

“I slept with at least 10 men daily. Each paid N4,000 and I have been working for her for two months now” Dickson said.

Onyekachi on her part said that Ikechukwu brought her from her village in Imo State with the promise that he had a sales girl job for her in Lagos. But when they got to Lagos, he then said that it was prostitution he had brought her to do. He handed her over to Madam Vera who took her and Helen to a shrine, where the native doctor bathed them with chicken blood after collecting their hairs and made them to take oaths. She said that the native doctor equally gave them a black substance to eat and ordered them to sleep in a dark room for one night. She said that for the two month she had worked, that she made between N300,000 to N400,000. Onyekachi begged to be taken back home saying that she never wanted to be a prostitute.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police stated that the suspects will be charged to court at the completion of investigations.