Lost forever: How security lapses, systemic failures expose children to traffickers (2)

Children are disappearing into a shadowy network of traffickers, leaving families in a state of perpetual grief and uncertainty. The journey from abduction to vanishing beyond recovery can happen within hours, as illustrated by the testimony of a 15-year-old girl named Ngozi, who escaped a trafficking ring.

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They change vehicles many times so that they will not be traced. Some children are drugged so they don’t cry. In most cases, they are transported in bags and in trucks without raising suspicion.

Ngozi described how children are moved rapidly between southern Nigeria and neighboring countries, often changing vehicles multiple times to evade detection. She recounted instances where toddlers were transported in bags or hidden among goods in overcrowded buses, sometimes drugged to prevent them from crying. These children are then forced into labor, disappear into illegal orphanage systems, or are absorbed into trafficking rings.

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Economic hardship has worsened the problem. Communities are overcrowded, parents work long hours, and abductors exploit those conditions.

A senior official from the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons acknowledged that vulnerable residential areas with unsupervised children are prime targets for abductors. "Economic hardship has worsened the problem," the official stated, noting that overcrowded communities and parents working long hours create exploitable conditions.

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Investigation revealed that Jacob coordinated a professional trafficking syndicate that specialised in stealing children aged one year and above and selling them to interested buyers for approximately N600,000 each.

Authorities recently arrested and convicted Hasana Jacob, a 33-year-old female truck driver, for leading an interstate child trafficking syndicate. Jacob, who worked for a cement company, allegedly used her role to transport stolen children, aged one and above, across the country. She was apprehended with six others while allegedly trying to sell a three-year-old girl stolen from Yobe State. Investigations suggest the syndicate specialized in stealing children and selling them for approximately N600,000 each, exploiting Jacob's access to transport terminals to bypass security.

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It is strongly suspected that the syndic