Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) have raided a prominent hotel in Katsina town, arresting three suspected members of an interstate sex trafficking syndicate and rescuing three young women allegedly forced into prostitution.
The operation, carried out by the Katsina State Command of NAPTIP, led to the arrest of the hotel’s manager and two workers believed to be complicit in the trafficking network.
The rescued victims, aged between 21 and 26, hail from Benue and Rivers States and were reportedly recruited under false pretenses before being trafficked to Katsina for sexual exploitation.
According to preliminary investigations, the syndicate specializes in recruiting and transporting young women from other parts of Nigeria to the North, where they are coerced into prostitution. The suspects are also believed to supply victims to brothels and other locations, including some across Nigeria’s borders.
One of the victims recounted her ordeal, revealing that she was lured to Katsina with promises of a lucrative job. Upon arrival, she and others were forced into prostitution and compelled to sleep with as many as 20 men daily.
“They give us a Fearless energy drink every evening so we can have strength to work through the night,” the victim said through tears. “Even when we are sick or on our period, they force us to keep sleeping with men. All the money we make goes to the chairlady, Amarachi. We have nothing left to eat or escape.”
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The victim also alleged that traffickers crippled them financially and hired men to monitor their movements to prevent escape.
The operation follows a recent directive by NAPTIP’s Director General, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, who instructed the agency’s operatives nationwide to intensify surveillance of hotels, bars, and motor parks — places increasingly used as hubs for human trafficking networks.
Binta Bello commended the Katsina operatives for their swift action, warning hotel operators across Nigeria to desist from aiding traffickers or face sanctions under the country’s anti-human trafficking laws.
“These victims face unimaginable horror daily, while their traffickers live in comfort within the same hotel, feeding fat on their suffering,” Bello stated. “The law will take its full course, and we are already initiating legal proceedings to determine appropriate sanctions against the hotel.”