Stolen by Deception: Inside NAPTIP’s Rescue of Over 180 Trafficked Children 

Behind the rescue of over 180 trafficked children lies a disturbing pattern of deception, as suspected criminal networks allegedly prey on families displaced by violence and hardship, promising education and support before taking their children away. With its latest operations stretching across several states, NAPTIP is now unravelling the network and tracing those behind the alleged trafficking of vulnerable children. Chiemelie Ezeobi 

reports 

For a father in Kajuru, Kaduna State, the sight of his son after three long years was almost too much to bear. He had lost hope. The boy was only three when gunmen invaded their community, forcing families to flee and leaving many displaced and vulnerable. Then came people who appeared to offer help.

They promised education. They said they represented an NGO helping communities affected by crisis. For parents struggling to rebuild their lives, the offer appeared to be a lifeline.

But the promise of a better future, the father would later discover, was allegedly a carefully laid trap.

Three years later, his son was among children recovered by operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), in a widening operation that has so far led to the rescue of over 180 children allegedly trafficked from communities across five states.

The latest recoveries have again drawn attention to a disturbing dimension of child trafficking: criminal groups allegedly hiding behind the image and credibility of civil society and humanitarian intervention to prey on distressed families

The Promise That Turned Into a Nightmare

The recent rescue operation involved the recovery of three children allegedly trafficked from Kajuru in Kaduna State and found inside a high-rise private building in Onitsha, Anambra State. Another child was recovered from the care of a clinical staff member at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha.

For the father whose son was among those rescued, the reunion brought both joy and pain.

“I am overwhelmed with joy because I had initially lost hope of seeing my Son. It happened three years ago when some unknown gunmen invaded Kajuru, my Community. We were all affected and displaced.

” A few weeks later, some people, some of whom were known to us, came around and, in an effort to console us, promised to take our children to the city for proper education. They said they run an NGO that helps people affected by one situation or another.

“I and some other parents were convinced, and since it has to do with the future of our children, we allowed them to take them away. We never knew that they deceived us. They tricked us and took our children away.

“A few months later, when it was obvious that the children ought to have vacated and spent the holiday with us in the village, we approached them; rather than giving us the right answer, they further tricked us, and later we did not see them anymore.”

For three years, there was no certainty about the fate of his child.

“This my son was three years old then, and now he is six years old. It is a mixture of joy and sadness for me because he looks very unkempt, unhappy, and it appears that he is being used as house help. On the other hand, I am happy that I am seeing him alive.”

Then came an unexpected breakthrough.

“How it happened was the pure act of God. I was directed to the Facebook page of NAPTIP where it was published that some children were recovered and their pictures were published.

” I saw my son among them and started chatting with NAPTIP only to find out that my Son was indeed among them. I thank the Director General of NAPTIP and the gallant Officers of the Agency for rescuing my Son. This is just like a dream. I am happy,” the visibly excited father of the survivour said.

A Wider Web Across States

The recovery of the Kajuru children is only the latest in what appears to be a much broader trafficking network.

Following reports of missing children across the country, the Director General of NAPTIP, Binta Adamu Bello, OON, had established a Special Squad within the Agency’s Investigation and Monitoring Department a few months ago.

The squad was specifically tasked with tracing and recovering children allegedly trafficked from different communities and ensuring that those responsible are brought to justice.

The first batch of recovered children reportedly included those taken from communities in Benue and Nasarawa States. According to NAPTIP, some of the children were taken to orphanages in Abuja and other states before allegedly being sold to unidentified individuals under the guise of adoption, after substantial sums of money had changed hands.

The latest operation has pushed the number of recovered children to over 180 across five states. The pattern emerging from the investigations is particularly troubling. Rather than simply abducting children, the suspected traffickers allegedly exploit the vulnerability of families already devastated by insecurity, displacement and poverty.

They allegedly arrive with promises of assistance, education and a better life for the children. For parents who have lost homes, livelihoods and a sense of security, such promises can be difficult to refuse.

A Child Recovered From a Nurse

One of the latest discoveries was the recovery of a child from the care of a clinical staff member at the Federal Medical Centre, Onitsha. The nurse, according to NAPTIP, confessed that she obtained the child from a prominent orphanage in Abuja in 2023 after paying N771,000.

The development again raises troubling questions about the channels through which trafficked children allegedly move and how legitimate-looking structures can sometimes be exploited to conceal criminal activities.

While investigations continue, the case has become another reminder of the need for greater scrutiny of child-care and adoption processes. It also underscores the challenge confronting law enforcement agencies: trafficking networks often thrive not in the shadows alone, but by exploiting systems, institutions and public trust.

Masquerading as Humanitarians

It was this alleged abuse of public trust that prompted the Director General of NAPTIP to call for an internal cleansing within the civil society community.

Bello expressed concern that some criminal elements may be hiding behind the identity of civil society organisations to gain access to vulnerable families and communities.

“I am seriously disturbed by the activities of some persons masquerading as members of the Civil Society Organisations, who have been fingered in several issues of child trafficking from across the country.

“I am confident that we have very committed members of the Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria working in the humanitarian and counter – trafficking space. But it seems that they have been infiltrated by some criminal elements whose mission is to steal and traffic children for various forms of reasons.

“From the various confessions of survivors and their relations as well as the investigation by NAPTIP, these criminal elements often use the platform of prominent and popular Civil Society Organisations to lure and deceive parents from security-challenged communities and villages, take away their children in the name of educational support, and disappear into thin air with the children. 

“These children are later sold allegedly to the highest bidders. This is criminal, and it is a direct way of adding more sorrow to already traumatized families.”

The allegation strikes at the heart of humanitarian work. Civil society organisations often operate where government institutions and other support systems are weakest. They work with displaced persons, victims of conflict and impoverished communities.

That credibility, Bello warned, must not become a shield behind which criminals operate.

A Call for Cleansing

The NAPTIP boss therefore challenged the umbrella body of civil society organisations, particularly those working in the humanitarian and counter-trafficking space, to identify and expose suspected criminal elements.

“I want to challenge the umbrella body of the Civil Society Organisations in Nigeria, especially those working closely with us in the counter trafficking space, to carry out in-house cleansing and expose those suspected to be criminal elements among them. They must be flushed out.

“On our own part, we have commenced a manhunt for those mentioned in our investigation, and we shall ensure that they are made to face the full wrath of the Law.”

Beyond the arrests and recoveries, the rescue of more than 180 children tells a larger story about the vulnerability created by insecurity and displacement.

For many families, particularly those in crisis-ridden communities, the promise of education or humanitarian support can represent hope. But, as the latest NAPTIP operation has shown, that hope can allegedly be exploited by people with criminal intentions.

For the father from Kajuru, however, the operation has brought back something he thought he had lost forever: his son.

His story is one of joy, but it is also a reminder of the many families still searching for their children.

And as NAPTIP continues its investigation and manhunt, the recovery of the over 180 children may be only one step in uncovering a trafficking network that, according to the agency, has fed on the pain and vulnerability of already distressed communities.

The challenge now is not only to recover the remaining children and prosecute those responsible, but also to ensure that the promise of help is never again turned into a weapon against the people who need it most.

Caption 

NAPTIP DG with some of the rescued children