Victims and suspects. PHOTO: ENIOLA DANIEL
Less than three months after the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) rescued victims of human trafficking in Ilado-Ogudu, Olorunda Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Badagry, Lagos, the agency at the weekend paraded 24 trafficking victims and three suspects arrested in the area.
The 24 victims comprised 16 males, seven females and one toddler.
The three suspects included two males and one female, while two other suspects remain at large.
Among the victims were two pregnant women and a one-and-a-half-year-old girl. The women became pregnant while being held at the facility.
The suspects are Medard Idowu from the Benin Republic, Agbo Ledia from Togo and Shelian Wensu from the Benin Republic.
On Thursday, June 4, 2026, NSCDC operatives in Badagry, led by the Divisional Officer, Badagry Division, CSC Gbenga Ekunola, raided several locations, including a bungalow in Itoga, Badagry, Lagos.
Parading the suspects at the NSCDC Badagry Divisional Office in Ibereko, Lagos State, the spokesperson for the agency in Lagos Command, Oluwaseun Abolurin, said the suspects were linked to cases involving missing persons.
“The suspects are also linked to illegal migration, human trafficking, the abduction of unsuspecting individuals, luring people into perpetrating criminal acts, and keeping victims in illegal confinement. The victims are from the Benin Republic and Togo, as well as one Nigerian male from Imo State.
“The suspects allegedly forced their victims to consume substances injected into items, including food, causing memory loss and making them unable to remember where they came from. Three of the victims last saw their families three years ago, nine months ago, and six months ago, respectively.”
Abolurin, who spoke on behalf of the Lagos State Commandant of the NSCDC, Adedotun Keshinro, added:
“In this camp, the suspects forced the victims to call their family members and falsely claim that they were accident or kidnapping victims in a bid to extort money from them.
“Many family members have gone to churches, mosques and traditionalists seeking help to locate their children. Some even performed sacrifices, but unfortunately, none yielded results.
“With credible and actionable intelligence obtained through community engagement, the NSCDC in Lagos has been able to identify these criminals and rescue the victims. We appreciate Lagos residents for trusting the NSCDC with information that has enabled us to dismantle this inhumane camp and arrest the suspects.
“These are foreign nationals who have come into our country and introduced practices that are inimical to our culture”.
“The Commandant has put mechanisms in place to ensure synergy with all security agencies and relevant stakeholders to root out such criminal activities within our jurisdiction.”
He further said: “The unfortunate reality is that most of the victims do not know what they are doing or where they came from.
“We appeal to anyone searching for missing loved ones to come forward with relevant details. We will profile the victims to determine whether any of them are among those being sought.”
Speaking on how he entered Nigeria and his mission in the country, Wensu said he did not possess any travel documents when he entered Nigeria. He added that he stayed with a friend in Ibereko upon arriving in Badagry.
“I worked in network marketing, selling products. I do not know the owner of the building where we were housed,” he said.
