channel247 online
The Central East Regional Police Intelligence Department has arrested one suspect and rescued 46 victims, including a child, in a suspected human trafficking operation at Buduburam in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region.
The victims, made up of foreign nationals from Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo and other French-speaking African countries, were rescued from a highly fortified house at Royal City, a suburb of Gomoa Buduburam.
Police sources say intelligence indicated that a Beninese national, identified as Nathaniel Obassa Oladedji, had been lured to Ghana and trafficked to Buduburam. Following days of surveillance and intelligence gathering, officers traced the location and mounted an operation.
Residents in the area told Channel 247 News that police officers disconnected an electric fence and jumped over the wall to gain access to the house, where they successfully rescued the victims.
Preliminary investigations suggest the traffickers collected huge sums of money from the victims and their families under the pretext of facilitating travel abroad. Some families, police say, were still in the process of making payments at the time of the rescue.
A family member of one of the victims, who spoke on condition of anonymity, alleged that the suspects kidnapped the victims and extorted large amounts of money from their relatives, believing they were being helped to travel overseas.
The Public Relations Officer of the Central East Regional Police Command, DSP Victor Dosoo, confirmed the arrest and said investigations are ongoing.
Source: Ghana/channel247online.com/YawBoagyan
