Operatives of the Ogun Police Command have rescued 22 teenage girls who were reportedly lured from Akwa Ibom State for prostitution.
The spokesman of the command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, on Saturday said the teenagers were being recruited from other states and used as commercial sex workers at a brothel in Itele Ota in Ado Odo – Ota Local Government Area of the state.
Oyeyemi said an operation was coordinated by the Area Commander Ota, ACP Muhideen Obe, upon receipt of an intelligence report, after which, they stormed the said hotel where the 22 teenagers, whose ages are between 10 and 14, were rescued.
In his words: “On interrogation, the girls narrated how they were lured from their respective villages in Akwa Ibom State to come to Ogun State, with the promise to employ them as sales girls in restaurants and supermarkets, only for them to get to Lagos and were transferred to a brothel in Ogun state as commercial sex workers.
“They further said that they were deprived of using phones or any communication device, therefore, making it impossible for them to reach out to their parents or relations.”
The Police spokesman added that the manager of the brothel, Isaac Ogbaji, and ten other male suspects were also arrested during the operation.
He said the Commissioner of Police in the state, Edward Awolowo Ajogun, had ordered the Family Support Unit of the Area Command to take over the investigation of the case, identify the recruiting cartel, and bring them to justice as soon as possible.
