How 22 A/Ibom teenage girls were rescued from Ogun brothel

Twenty-two Akwa Ibom teenage girls aged 10 to 14 have been rescued from a brothel in Ota, Ogun State, where they were being used as commercial sex workers.

The girls were said to have been lured all away from their parents in Akwa Ibom State with a promise of providing them jobs of sales girls.

The rescue operation was carried out by the police coordinated by the Area Commander Ota, ACP Muhideen Obe.

The police team reportedly stormed the hotel at about 8pm on Friday where the 22 teenagers were found and rescued.

The girls said they were lured from their respective villages in Akwa Ibom to Ogun State, with the promise to employ them as sales girls in restaurants and supermarkets.

The victims said further that they were first brought to Lagos and later transferred to a brothel in Ogun as commercial sex workers.

The police spokesman in Ogun State, Abimbola Oyeyemi, who made this known in a statement, said the girls also narrated that they were deprived of phone or any communication devices, thereby making it impossible for them to reach out to their parents or relations.

He added that the manager of the hotel, Isaac Ogbaji, and ten other male suspects were arrested during the operation.

He said the state Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, had directed the family support unit of the area command, Ota, to take over the investigation.

• DSP Oyeyemi