Some trafficked girls numbering fifteen and a three-year-old boy were yesterday rescued by the Federal Government of Nigeria and returned to the country from Bamako, Mali.
The Government said it planned to rescue more Nigerians trapped in that country.
It is projected that, no fewer than 20,000 young Nigerians have been trafficked to Mali and are being exploited sexually.
Head, Intelligence and International Cooperation Unit of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Angela Agbayekhai, said this yesterday at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport Abuja, after returning the victims to Nigeria.
Agbayekhai who represented the Director-General of NAPTIP, Dr Fatima Waziri–Azi, said Mali is not a destination but transit country but traffickers trick victims into the country and proceed to exploit them sexually.
According to her, “It is our hope and plan to get more of these children, because we have so many of them still out there in Mali.”
