Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), has now become the destination of choice for victims of human trafficking, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has said.
Mr Nduka Nwanwenne, Zonal Commander, NAPTIP, Benin Zonal Command, made the disclosure on Wednesday, in Benin, at the commencement of a three-day sensitisation programme on human trafficking.
Nwanwenne explained that against the norm where victims of human trafficking were transported by their traffickers by land to their destinations, victims were now air transported.
“This is because the human traffickers have stepped up their game, and the destination of choice of victims of human trafficking was now Dubai. Human Trafficking is not abating in the country, because traffickers make so much money from their victims so they take it as a business. The traffickers are now also concentrating on rural areas for recruitment of their victims”, he said.
The zonal commander also revealed that irregular migration was also been used as a ploy for human trafficking, such that its victims were being exploited for their organs.
“There is now an increase in organ harvesting not just for money rituals, but also for transplant. This is because the need for organs is higher than the supply,” he added.
While noting that the issue of human trafficking was still on the front burner, Nwanwenne said that there was the need for partnership to end human trafficking.
He said that baby sales/baby factory operations were part of human trafficking and that there was the need for concerted efforts to end human trafficking.
“As security agencies we must be alive to our duties. We must join hands with government to fight the issue of human trafficking. I must also advice parents to stop putting pressure on their children to go and make money. Parents should control themselves and give birth to only the number of children they can cater for,” he said.