DSS arrests 3 pastors, woman over child trafficking in Bayelsa

Yenagoa— Three pastors and a woman, who
operates a private school in Yenagoa, Bayelsa
State, were paraded, on Wednesday, as operatives
of the Department of State Services, DSS,
smashed a child trafficking syndicate operating in
the state.
Thirty six children, whose ages range from five to
14 years, were rescued by operatives of the DSS
in the state from homes where they were being
used as house boys and girls.
Those paraded were Dauda Nurugada, 32, from
Kebbi State; Anthony Onwebeyi, 53, from Anambra
State; Benaalim Isa-Garba, 43, from Kaduna State
and Mrs Tombra Alazigha, 38, a school
proprietor.
The Assistant State Director of Security, Mr.
Friday Onuche, while addressing newsmen at the
state headquarters of DSS, said the children were
rescued from homes in Yenagoa and Kaiama in
Bayelsa State, Enugu-Agidi in Anambra State and
Port-Harcourt in Rivers State.
He said the kingpins operated under the guise of
missionaries and Non-Governmental
Organisations, NGOs, and target vulnerable
children largely from the northern part of the
country.
Among the places targeted by the traffickers, he
said, include Zuru ethnic group in Kebbi and
Zamfara states and Zaria in Kaduna State, where
they approach poor parents to allow them send
their children to school.
Mr. Onuche said the children rather than go to
school as promised, ended up as house helps or
hawkers.
He said: “There is the need, therefore, for
members of the public to be sensitised on the
need to be circumspect in the way they give their
children or take in children from such
unsuspecting modern slave traders.”