By CrossRiverWatch admin
Blessing Gabriel, a 25 year old indigene of Calabar South Local Government of Cross River State was among five suspected members of a human trafficking ring, paraded last week by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, for running a prostitution syndicate.
The suspects who have confessed to taking two Nigerian girls to Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, to become commercial sex workers also admitted that they recorded the girls’ nude videos while they were taking diabolical oaths.
Blessing Gabriel, 25; and her other accomplices, Precious Ejiro-Owoh, 29; Rose Gabriel, 25; Priscilla Bassey, 33; and Terry Smooth 38, were apprehended by the agency on September 8, 2015, while one of their victims, identified only as Ann, had been rescued.
CrossRiverWatch gathered that after two of the victims of the syndicate, Ann and Chisom, had fled from Dubai in August, the gang put their nude visuals on the social media and the visuals went viral online prompting NAPTIP to set on the trail of members of the gang.
The visuals, which showed the girls swearing to oaths of allegiance, were said to have been sent to the agency by concerned Nigerians who also appealed to the agency to intervene and unravel those behind the video.
The Lagos Zonal Command officials of NAPTIP on Tuesday, September 8, arrested Dubai-based Blessing Gabriel, who confessed to have trafficked Ann.
Blessing who said she is from Calabar South in Cross River State, was said to have sneaked into the country for a traditional marriage and was arrested at the Agboroko village, Iba area of Lagos while other gang members were picked up in the Lekki Phase 1 and Ajah areas.
Blessing Gabriel, who claimed that she works with a travel agency in Dubai, told journalist during interrogation that she sent N35,000 to bring Ann from Nigeria as a commercial sex worker in Dubai. She also claimed that the arrangement was with the consent of the victim.
She said, “I did not know the victim from anywhere. Gina, who has not yet been arrested, is my friend in Dubai. She was the one who told me that she needed a girl from Nigeria to do “runs”. I then told Precious, my Nigerian friend, to get me someone.
“Gina sent N35,000 to prepare the girl that would be brought. That was in July. So, it happened that the girl, Ann, was brought to Dubai. I personally went to pick her from the airport.
“When she came to Gina, the girl was taken inside a room, stripped and asked to say an oath. I was not there; I was not the person that stripped her. She did the job for about a month before she fled from Dubai.
“I knew they were bringing her for commercial sex; and she was also aware. She told Precious that she was ready to travel out of the country and do any kind of work.”
Precious, who confessed to luring the girl to travel to Dubai, pleaded that it was her first time to deal in trafficking of persons.
The NAPTIP Lagos director, Joseph Famakin, “The victim was recruited from Lagos for Blessing, who was in Dubai. Blessing was responsible for her travel expenses. The process of preparing her for Dubai was coordinated by Blessing’s sister, Rose Gabriel.
“On arrival in Dubai, the oath was forcefully administered on her, and it was recorded on video. This recording was later released on Youtube after she escaped from her exploiters in Dubai. She was forced into prostitution contrary to the initial promise of being given a job at a hair dressing saloon.”
The NAPTIP Director added that other members of the trafficking ring in Dubai, Gina, Fegor, Ebony Ejeba, and Nicole Esther Otubu were still at large and efforts were on to track them down.
The Assistant Director, Press and Public Relations, NAPTIP, Josiah Emerole, said the suspects would be charged to court, adding that efforts were on to rescue the other victims of the syndicate.
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