A supposed location was identified in Libya where African migrants were allegedly kept in cages like animals, said Basheer Garba Muhammed, the Director-General of Nigeria’s National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
He claimed that their vital organs such as eyes, kidneys and lungs would thereafter be harvested and sold in the black market to service the medical needs of Europe, according to the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) in Nigeria. These claims have not been verified.
During a meeting with the Governor of Kano State, Abdulahi Umar Ganduje, to discuss strategies to curb human trafficking, Muhammed added that many Nigerians are trapped in conditions of sexual and labour exploitation in various African and European countries.
“NAPTIP is worried about this trend of the trafficking of young Nigerian women to the Middle East, who are mostly from Kano and neighbouring states.”
“The problem of human trafficking and irregular migration has become a matter of national and international concern,” he said.
Last month, Nigerian security forces rescued 13 minor migrants, most of them girls, from the hands of a notorious human trafficker, Nurudeen Sani, who has been on its watch list.
“The well planned operation also led to the rescue of 13 Libya bound victims of human trafficking, made up of 2 boys and 11 girls. The agency commenced a manhunt for 2 members of the trafficking ring, whose names were given as Bose and Ismeal,” the security agency said in a statement, according to Guardian Nigeria News.