The Niger State Police Command has arrested a 22-year-old woman, Gift Segun Lucky, for criminal conspiracy and trafficking in persons.
The spokesperson of the command, SP Wasiu Abiodun, who disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday, January 13, 2026 said the suspect lured three female victims from Minna to Ghana and Ivory Coast under the pretext of job offers in the neighbouring west African countries.
According to the PPRO, when two of the victims arrived Ghana, they were handed over to two women who engaged them in forced manual labour and s3xual exploitation.
Abiodun said the two victims were rescued following investigation by detectives attached to the Anti-kidnapping unit in collaboration with Interpol.
He added that efforts are ongoing to rescue the third victim who was separately trafficked to Ivory Coast under the same guise.
“On 9th December 2025, a case of suspected human trafficking was transferred to SCID Minna from the Child Rights Agency with one suspect, Gift Segun Lucky 22yrs of Tunga Minna,” the statement read.
“The report indicated that sometime in November 2025, the suspect criminally conspired with unknown persons (at large) in Ghana and trafficked three female victims of 17yrs, 20yrs and 21yrs from Minna to Ghana and Ivory Coast.
“On receipt of the report, Police detectives of SCID Minna attached to the Anti-kidnapping unit commenced investigation in collaboration with Interpol.
“During the course of investigation, it was discovered that the suspect established communication with a trafficking agent called “Abiola Adebayo” residing in Ghana via an online Facebook betting platform where he was introduced into the trafficking business.
“On 10th November 2025, the suspect approached the victims who were all friends residing around M7 Tunga and deceived them that he had a job offer for them at a cocoa company in Lagos, offering payment of one hundred and twenty thousand naira (#120,000) weekly.
“Initially, two of the unsuspecting victims indicated interest and without the knowledge or consent of their parents, embarked on the trip to Lagos which was fully paid for by the suspect, only to end up being transported to Ghana through a network of numerous trafficking agents stationed at strategic pick-up and drop-off points all along the way, after their initial arrival at a park in Lagos.
“The two victims stated that they were received in Lagos by another agent called “Sunny” (Sunday) still at large who put them in a coaster bus to an unknown destination with threats.
“On arrival in Ghana after two days on transit, they were both transported to a large building in a remote village in Kumasi where they were handed over to a woman addressed only as “Madame” and after sometime transferred to the custody of another woman called “Jennifer aka Sugar”. Both principals engaged them in forced manual labour and sexual exploitation.
“Based on joint efforts, technical intelligence and investigative pressure of the Police, Interpol and parents of the victims on the trafficking syndicate, eventually led to the release and rescue of both victims on the 1st of January 2026 to Lagos from Ghana.
“Further findings revealed that later on, the third victim also indicated interest in the job offer and she was separately trafficked to Ivory Coast under the same guise. Efforts are also ongoing to rescue her.
“The suspect is still in custody undergoing interrogation to aid in identifying other agents connected to the crime after which he will be charged to court, whilst further collaborative transnational security measures are in place to rescue other trafficked victims.”