Security operatives on Thursday, successfully rescued two pregnant women, one nursing mother and eight children from suspected human traffickers at a motor park in Zawan Junction located in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The victims were allegedly being trafficked illegally to work in mining camps in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Special Adviser to Governor Caleb Mutfwang on Gender and Chairperson of the Plateau State Gender and Equal Opportunities Commission, Olivia Dazyam, who confirmed the incident while briefing journalists at the Commission’s headquarters in Jos, said three of the suspects were also arrested during the operation which she led after getting credible information on the operations of a human trafficking syndicate at the illegal motor park.

Dazyam said the rescue operation further exposed what she described as a decade-long trafficking operation that had quietly consumed the futures of scores of Plateau children and young women.

She stated that the Commission acted on a tip-off from a Zawan community member regarding an illegal park that operated only on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  

“A member of the Zawan community drew our attention to what, according to him, looked like an illegal motor park.

“He wanted to find out if we knew about the existence of that park, and he gave me the information that the park operates only on Thursdays and Tuesdays. 

“He said that on Thursdays, the syndicate would convey passengers to a location in Ibadan and on Tuesdays, they would bring back some people into that park, and drop them there,” she said.

Dazyam said during a discreet investigation carried out by her agency, it was discovered that the victims were usually children with some of them as young as 11 years old who were taken to the mining sites and forced into hard labour.

She explained that she and her team visited the site and found five vehicles loading passengers for what appeared to be a night journey.

“When we got to the illegal park, we discovered persons below 18 years who were about to travel. We were told that there is a mining pond in Ibadan, Oyo State, where the victims are being recruited to go and serve as labourers on those mining camps,” she said.

She said the conditions awaiting the victims amounted to bonded labour as they are made to work six days for their handlers and keep only one day’s earnings for themselves. 

“How are you working six days of your life for some people, then only one day is for you? It means that even if you remain in Plateau State, you can actually work for the seven days for yourself, and you will gain something,” she said.

“I understand from what the informant told me that it is a chain of beneficiaries from this. They have to share the money of their labor for other beneficiaries, and this is why it is exploitative.

“All of them were to be transported, they are not the ones to pay the transport fare. It is when they arrive, probably they are able to deliver them in Ibadan in the mining communities before they pay them.

“A parent of the rescued victim got here and said he doesn’t know that two of his children are traveling. He doesn’t know, so what do you know about your children?” Dazyam asked.