NAPTIP Rescues 180 Trafficked Children, Arrests Nurse

Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) rescued over 180 children allegedly trafficked from five states by organized criminal groups posing as civil society members. Among the rescued were three children trafficked from a distressed parent in Kajuru, Kaduna State, to Onitsha, Anambra State.

A nurse at the Federal Medical Centre in Onitsha was arrested after confessing to obtaining a child from a prominent orphanage in Abuja for N771,000 in 2023. NAPTIP's Director General, Binta Adamu Bello, expressed concern over the alarming activities of trafficking syndicates exploiting crisis-ridden communities under the guise of educational support.

She established a special squad within the Investigation and Monitoring Department to recover trafficked children and bring traffickers to justice. The first batch of recovered children was taken from communities in Benue and Nasarawa states and sold to unidentified individuals under the pretense of adoption.