By Juliet Aguiar DUGBARTEY
A Nigerian, Okolo Chukwukadibia Jackson, 31, has been sentenced to a ten-year jail term by the Kweikuma Gender Circuit Court, within the Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, for Human Trafficking and illegal entry into the country.
Presided over by Her Honour, Naa Amerley Akowuah, the court convicted Jackson based on his plea on two counts of human trafficking and illegal entry, as per sections 2(1)/(2) of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (ACT 694), as amended by section 1(1) of the Human Trafficking Act, 2009, and section 2(1) and 52(1)(D) of the Immigration Act, 2000 (ACT 573) respectively.
According to the prosecution, Jackson entered the country illegally in 2021 and remained so until his arrest at Aboi Nkwanta in Asankrangwa, Western Region.
He was found guilty of trafficking a 16-year-old girl and three other females from Onitsha, Anambra State, and was sentenced to ten years imprisonment with hard labor, along with a fine of five hundred penalty units (GH¢ 1,200.00), or an additional six months in default.
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) Public Affairs Officer, Insp. Moses Manford Akapo, stated that one of the victims, a 16-year-old girl, revealed that they were recruited in Nigeria by one Madam Ella, under the pretense of working as salesgirls for Jackson in Dubai. Investigations uncovered that Jackson sent an amount of N668,200 from Ghana to cover their recruitment, lodging, feeding, and transportation from Onitsha to Asankrangwa.
The victims arrived in Lagos on February 11, 2024, and were handed over to a driver referred to as I.K. who drove them to Accra on February 13, 2024. On February 15, 2024, I.K. arranged for a bus bound for Asankrangwa for the victims, providing Jackson’s contact number to the driver. Upon their arrival on February 16, 2024, Jackson took the 16-year-old girl to a shrine and made her swear with an egg not to run away or disclose her ordeal, threatening death otherwise.
“The victim was finally taken to a whorehouse, and handed over to another Nigerian woman, allegedly called Madam Special, in charge of a brothel. The convict later gave undisclosed amount of money and packs of condom, after which the victim was directed to a room and ordered to begin working as a prostitute,” a statement said.
According to the statement, the victim was informed that all proceeds from her illicit activities went to Okolo Chukwukadibia Jackson. Despite this, she managed to escape from the brothel and encountered a good Samaritan who guided her to the Asankrangwa Sector Command of the Ghana Immigration Service. Upon receiving the report, Commander C/Supt. Kwabena Agyei promptly organized a rescue operation for the victims and apprehended the perpetrators, though Madam Special evaded capture.
During interrogation, Okolo Chukwukadibia Jackson confessed to sending the other three victims to Madam Gifty, who is currently at large, in exchange for GH¢ 8,500. The Western Regional Command of the Service is intensifying its efforts to apprehend the remaining members of the Nigerian girls’ syndicate and ensure the safety of the other three victims by heightening its investigative activities across the region.
“We are calling on the benevolence of the general public to be on the lookout for such suspicious characters within their vicinity and report them to the nearest immigration office for prompt action,” the statement concluded.
