NAPTIP arrests Cote d’Ivoire trafficking kingpins in Abuja raid

In a breakthrough against human trafficking networks, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has arrested two suspected masterminds of a trans-border trafficking syndicate operating between Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire.

The suspects — 32-year-old Emmanuel Uzor Igwe and 30-year-old Ugochukwu Christian — were apprehended at their mansion in Lugbe, Abuja, which also served as the operational base of the criminal gang.

In a press statement signed by NAPTIP’s Press Officer, Vincent Adekoye, on Wednesday, the agency disclosed that the suspects were arrested following credible intelligence and public outcry triggered by a viral video shared by human rights activist and social media influencer Martins Vincent Otse, popularly known as VeryDarkMan (VDM).

According to the agency, the suspects were exposed after victims stranded in Côte d’Ivoire named them in a conversation with VDM, prompting his visit to NAPTIP’s headquarters in Abuja last week.
VDM had raised alarm over the victims’ plight and pledged to collaborate with the agency in its rescue efforts.

During the raid, NAPTIP operatives also rescued two young women suspected to be trafficking victims. Preliminary investigations revealed that the women had been recruited from an eastern state in Nigeria under the guise of securing well-paid jobs at a shopping mall in Côte d’Ivoire.

One of the victims, whose name was withheld, recounted her experience, saying: “They told me I would work in a flourishing mall and get paid in foreign currency. But they took us to a shrine outside Abuja to swear an oath. I don’t even know where it was — we traveled for about three hours from Gwagwalada.”

She further disclosed that the traffickers demanded 2.2 million CFA francs as repayment for the supposed job opportunity.

NAPTIP stated that the arrest was part of a larger, strategic operation aimed at dismantling transnational trafficking networks across the West African sub-region.

Reacting to the arrest, Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, expressed the agency’s determination to root out trafficking syndicates in Nigeria.

She said, “The arrest of the two suspects is part of our well-planned onslaught against human traffickers in the country.

They are part of a trans-border gang, and it is good that we could finally get them.

I want to thank all our partners, especially VDM, for his passion and support. The game is over for human traffickers in Nigeria. NAPTIP is ready to choke their operations unless they desist.”

Bello also confirmed that discussions had been initiated with both state and non-state actors in Côte d’Ivoire to rescue the victims still stranded in the country.

Full investigations are ongoing, and the suspects will be prosecuted if found culpable.