41 children rescued from traffickers in N/Region

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The Northern Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service has rescued 41 children from child trafficking.

Two of the alleged child traffickers from Nigeria, have been put before court and have been remanded in police custody in Tamale.

Commander of the Northern Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service, Eric Afari in a Citi News interview on Friday, described child trafficking in the region as very dire.

“The situation as it is now is very dire and we need to step up our operations and intelligence gathering.”

Eric Afari narrated how the alleged two child traffickers were accosted.

“For the past three weeks, we have intensified our surveillance at the borders and we have succeeded in arresting some child traffickers and rescued about 41 children. At the moment, we have arraigned two of the traffickers and they in in police custody. In fact, they were put before court on February 12 and as we speak they have been remanded and we are hoping that the case will continue so that the justice will be served,” he added.

Breakdown of the rescued children

“On the 28th of January, we rescued 4 children, then on the first of February we rescued 4 children, and on the third of February, we rescued 14 children. On the 10 of February also, we rescued another 9 children including one young lady.”

“This is an activity that is going on and we think it is nefarious for our country. Our children in Ghana are not for sale and we cannot allow them to be taken to surrounding countries to go and be used as child labourers,” he bemoaned.

Eric Afari thus called for a multifaceted approach to tackle the threat.

He said his outfit was working in collaboration with the Togolese police to deal with the traffickers.

“We have been working in collaboration with the Togolese police and we gather a lot of intelligence.”

Child trafficking is one of the human security threats in the Northern Region

Apart from the incessant sporadic chieftaincy, land and other related conflicts, child trafficking is one of the human security threats in the Northern Region.

The situation is rampant in the eastern corridor of the Northern Region where some parents due to poverty, trade off their children to child traffickers from Nigeria.

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/Citifmonline.com/Ghana

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