By Onwaeze Ogochukwu Tricia
A 24-year-old Nigerian lady, Mercy Sese has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for human trafficking.
Justice Abdu Dogo of the Federal High Court sitting in Makurdi, Benue State, convicted the accused with a fine option of N4.5 million, after she pleaded guilty to engaging in the organization of foreign trips for sexual exploitation of young girls in Mali.
Sese was charged on offenses said to be contrary to Section 18, 27 and 29 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.
In January 2022, she was arrested by men of the National Agency for the Prohibition Of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Makurdi Zonal Command at a popular motor park in the Benue State capital. The Zonal Commander, Mrs Gloria Bai said huge sums of money including foreign currencies were also recovered from the suspect.
“The command, in the early hours of Friday, January 7th 2022, received a call from a concerned citizen from Duku Motor park at Wurukum Makurdi who alerted the command to a suspected case of him trafficking involving 7 ladies of which one is the suspected trafficker,” she said.
“Officers of the command arrived at the Duku Motor park sir minutes after receiving the call and met the six ladies and the suspect, who said they were all traveling to Lagos. The victims were between the ages 16 and 24 by facial analysis.
“About N500,000 alongside some foreign currencies were found on the suspect indicating that the young girls were to be moved to a destination outside the country yet to determined.”
