A 24-year-old lady was sentenced to 7 years in jail for sex trafficking by a Federal High Court in Makurdi, Benue State.
Mercy was apprehended in the early hours of Friday, January 7, by the Makurdi Zonal Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, after a concerned citizen reported seeing her with seven females at a prominent car park in the state.
According to facial analysis, the victims were between the ages of 16 and 24. Following a search, around N500,000 and some foreign currencies were discovered in the suspect’s hands, raising suspicions that it was a case of human trafficking to a destination outside the country.
Mercy was arraigned before a court on Wednesday, May 11, for organizing foreign trips for the young girls to Mali for prostitution.
Sections 18, 27, and 29 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015 prohibit the offense.
She pled guilty to all counts and was sentenced to 7 years in prison and an N4.5 million fine by the presiding court, Justice AbduDogo.