Oyo State command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) has rescued four victims of human trafficking and arrested four suspected human traffickers.

Speaking on Monday, during the handing over of the victims to the National Agency for Prohibition of Traffic in Person and other Related Matters (NAPTIP) in Ibadan, the command’s Controller, Mr Joseph Olaitan, said that rescued victims were between 12 and 17 years.

He said the four suspects — two Nigerians and two Togolese —  specialised in bringing children from Togo and distributing them to different parts of Nigeria for child labour.

The NIS boss, who vowed not to relent in his efforts aimed at ridding the state of human trafficking, disclosed that the four victims whose ages ranged from 12 to 17 were rescued from the four suspects.

He quoted one of the suspects as saying that she had distributed no fewer than 49 Togolese children across the country in the last one month.

He said one of the rescued children had earlier been handed over to the Togolese Embassy because of her poor state of health.

According to him, handing over the suspects and the victims to NAPTIP was in line with the directive of the NIS Controller-General, Mrs Rose Uzoma, that the NIS must maintain synergy with NAPTIP.

While describing human trafficking as a crime and not business, the NIS boss vowed that his command would not relent in its war against the suspects until the state was rid of the illicit business.

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