The operatives were to arrest the vehicle for overloading and broken windscreen, only to discover that the occupants of the vehicle were suspected child traffickers with some 17 minors.
In a statement released by the Corps’ Head Media Relations and Strategy, Mr. Bisi Kazeem, he said the vehicle, a Ford Galaxy model with registration number LMU 76 XA, grey color, was travelling from Kano to an undisclosed location on Thursday, April 27, around 1155hrs, when the patrol team asked the driver of the said vehicle to stop.
The driver, however, refused to stop, which led to a chase towards Dutsenma junction, where he was forced to as the traffic light turned red. He was arrested, the vehicle impounded and taken to the FRSC base at No 12 Ahmadu Bello Way, Kaduna.
The operatives counted 17 minors and 3 adults (a driver, a woman and one other person), totalling 20 persons in the vehicle. This raised the team lead’s suspicion.
According to the Corps’ Sector Head of Operations in Kaduna who interviewed the driver, he could not convince the officers about their movement and the destination of the children.
Kazeem stated that the Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, who got a report on the situation immediately directed that the case be reported to the Comptroller of Immigration, Kaduna State, who immediately deployed his personnel to take away the Vehicle and its occupants for further investigation at their Command.
The matter was subsequently transferred to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons for further investigation and necessary action.
To this end, Oyeyemi who approved of the release of the vehicle to NAPTIP to serve as an exhibit on their request, used the opportunity to stress the need for constant inter-agency collaboration to foster security of lives and properties in the Country.
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