Based on my job, I learned something special this week from Security Agents in Mali when we went on a rescue mission together.
I don’t know if the Nigerian Security Agencies are in collaboration with kidnappers to take the ransom and share together, if not, no kidnapper can succeed in taking any ransom where security formation is effective.
The story is that I received a message from Nigeria concerning a 16-year-old girl that was trafficked to Mali for the sex trade.
This victim called her parents about the situation, and they passed the message to me from a government agency for urgent rescue.
When I called the number that the victim used to call her parents and I asked the traffickers to send the victim to me so that she could go back to Nigeria, they refused.
Later, they remove the line from their phone, now the number is out of use. I now informed a security agent about the situation because what is important is to rescue the 16 years old girl from sexual exploitation.
Now, the number I used to contact the traffickers is no more in use. I don’t know the name of the village the victim is. I sent the number that they have removed and broken to the security agent.
After two hours, they notified me of the name of the village and the current new number the traffickers were using.
We went on a mission without calling the new number. We arrived at the village at midnight because it was about 15 hours journey.
On the second day, information reached us on the exact location the phone number was last used before they switched off the phone.
After an hour, information came again that the person is having an appointment with somebody by 11:00 am.
We hung around the place.
When the person came around, there was a vibration from one of their security gadgets to know the person coming with the number.
We monitored her entry to the house. We were able to rescue the victim on the 20th of December 2022. No call. Nothing.
So, ransom collection in Nigeria could be between the kidnappers and security agencies.
If not, no Nigerian should pay ransom to any kidnapper if really our policemen have the necessary security gadgets.
This is just a trafficking issue and not that some criminals will hide somewhere, calling people twice to pay a ransom.
You cannot call three times before being caught in Mali.
That is the reason I said, Nigerian Security Agents could be in collaboration with the kidnappers to take ransom from people
P. Michael.
Global Anti-Human Trafficking Organization (GAHTO). MALI.
