The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) officials at the Ghana-Togo Border at Aflao in the last quarter of year 2019, intercepted over 50 Ghanaian young women, who were being trafficked to the Arab states through Nigeria.
The victims were aged between 17 and 40.
Mr. Frederick Duodu, Aflao GIS Sector Commander, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that their rescues followed intensified surveillance.
He said given the tight security at the Kotoka International Airport, the traffickers were avoiding the airport and increasingly using the Aflao-Lome-Coutonu-Lagos land corridor.
He said the refreshing news was that Togo and Nigeria had joined Ghana in the effort to stop the traffickers.
They had all stepped up the surveillance -closely watching movements along their frontiers.
According to him, the Togolese officials recently busted three Ghanaian women and two traffickers in a Hotel in Lome where they were waiting to travel to Nigeria.
The Nigerian authorities also in a separate incident arrested two women and two traffickers at the Seme Border with Benin.
The victims and their traffickers had since been handed over to the GIS.
Mr. Doudu said all the victims were sent to the GIS headquarters in Accra, counselled and then re-united with their families.
He said a total of six arrested traffickers were now serving jail terms in Ghana, Togo and Nigeria.
He called for all to be vigilant and flag up suspected human traffickers to the security agencies. The situation where innocent persons are tricked with promises well-paying jobs in the hospitality industry – hotels, aviation and restaurants but end up in brothels as sex workers should not continue.
“Many such a victim have to be rescued and evacuated in the past at the Ghana Government’s expense after their distress calls got here”, Mr. Doudu added.
He appealed to the media to help sustain the education campaign to help everybody to join the fight against human trafficking.
Source: GNA
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