Operatives of Ogun State Police Command have rescued 22 girls said to have been lured from Akwa ibom State to Ogun State for prostitution.
The operatives’ action was based on credible intelligence received that minors were being recruited from other states and used as commercial sex workers at Kolab Hotel in Itele area of Ota, Ogun State.
The operatives, in an operation on Friday coordinated by the Area Commander, Ota, ACP Muhideen Obe, stormed the said hotel at about 8 p.m. where the 22 teenagers whose ages are between 10 and 14y years were rescued.
On interrogation, according to Abimbola Oyeyemi, Ogun State Police spokesman, the girls said to have been brought in for prostitution narrated how they were lured from their respective villages in Akwa Ibom State to Ogun State with the promise to employ them as sales girls in restaurants and supermarkets, only for them to get to Lagos and be transferred to a brothel in Ogun State as commercial sex workers.
They narrated further that they were deprived of using phone or any communication devices, therefore, making it impossible for them to reach out to their parents or relations.
The manager of the hotel, one 33 years old Isaac Ogbaji and ten other male suspects were also arrested during the operation.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police, CP Edward Awolowo Ajogun, has ordered that the family support unit of the Area Command, Ota, should take over the investigation of the case, identify the recruiting cartel and bring them to justice as soon as possible.
