A 42-year-old woman, Juliet Ukhurebor, has been arrested by the Edo State Taskforce on Human Trafficking for alleged human trafficking.
Daily Post reports that the suspect was arrested by the officials of the taskforce at her shrine in Benin City while a native pot containing concoctions was recovered from her as an exhibit.
Mrs Pauline Irusota, Secretary of the taskforce, who disclosed this to newsmen at a press briefing in Benin City, said the suspect was arrested alongside one Joy Osawe.
Irusota added that the suspects were apprehended following a petition by one Rita Godwin, 25.
She alleged that the prime suspect (Juliet Ukhurebor) in collaboration with her daughter in India, forged Ghanaian passports and other documents for the victims for the purpose of smuggling them to India.
She explained that the prime suspect had already succeeded in smuggling a girl identified as Juliet Osagie to India.
The task force’s Secretary stated that the prime suspect only revealed to the victims after taking oath that they were heading to India for prostitution
She added that the petitioner on learning of the development refused to embark on the final journey to Abuja, en route India.
“Following the refusal of the petitioner to travel to India, the prime suspect, and a native doctor from Enugu State began issuing threats to the petitioner that she pay N8 million, being the money used to process her traveling documents.
“The prime suspect was arrested at her shrine, and a native pot containing concoctions was recovered as exhibit at the request of the investigators,”
she said.
Speaking in an interview, the prime suspect, Mrs Juliet Ukhurebor said she made her victims swear on oath before travelling out of the country in order to deter them from refusing to obey instructions.
Ukhurebor, said the oath taking was just to threaten the victims not to abscond or behave funny while with her daughter in India.
According to her, “I acted on the instructions of my India-based-daughter, who requested a female nanny from Nigeria to administer an oath on the victims.
“My daughter asked them to take oath because she spent money on the would-be nannies travel documents, so that they would not get there and abscond, or refuse to pay her the expenses she incurred on their documents,”
she added.
