One Victor Udo Eyop, who claims to be a pastor, has been apprehended by the police in Calabar, Cross River State, for allegedly trying to traffick three unsuspecting females to Libya by road through Katsina State.
Similarly, another individual, Idongesit Akpan and his wife Angela, are currently in Police custody for allegedly stealing and trafficking two siblings, aged 3 and 5 years old.
Briefing journalists at the Cross River State Police Command Headquarters, the State Commissioner of Police, Augustine Grimah, said Akpan and his wife’s victim, Blessing Godday of No.4 Obubra-Ikom road, Obubra, was reportedly tricked to Akamkpa with the assurance of getting a job. The victim is said to have traveled from Obubra to Okomita, Akamkpa, with her children aged 3 and 5 years and was immediately unable to reach the suspects when she reached Akamkpa. “She tried reaching the suspect on phone but their lines were off. After waiting for hours at a popular junction in Akamkpa, the suspect Idongesit Evanson Akpan, and wife, Angela Akpan, emerged from nowhere offering the victim and her two kids their apartment to pass the night. The next day, they took off to Aba, Abia State, where the suspects had connived with a buyer who had already paid them N1.4million with a balance of N1.1 million.”
Victor Udo Eyop, the “pastor”, of Atamunu Street by Cross Roads Hotel in Calabar South, working with his wife, allegedly lured three females, Deborah, 25 years, Anita Igri, 25 years and Mabel Bassey, 16years, for trafficking to Libya.
“They took three of the victims to a popular pharmacy in Calabar, for HIV and STD tests before proceeding on the journey the next day. They drove them to a park where they booked tickets for them to Kaduna, from where they were further transported to Katsina to eventually take them to Niger Republic and onward to Libya; but they were initially told that they would be taken to Abuja where they would be issued Italian visas and then flown out.”
“Luck however ran out of the suspects as the vehicle conveying them from Kaduna to Katsina developed a fault. That was when they realized that the journey wasn’t what they bargained for, and ran to a Point of Sale, POS, operator who assisted them to find their way back to Calabar escaping from the faulty vehicle,” the CP said.
“The suspects who are now in custody and under investigation confessed to the crimes and will be charged to court as soon as investigation is completed.”
“ In all, from January 2023, we have charged 399 cases to court, 19 cases conclusively prosecuted, 15 convictions, 4 discharged with 376 cases pending. While 328 cases are at the Federal High Court, 48 were transmitted to DPP,” Grimah concluded.
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