Police have rescued at least 39 Nigerian victims of human trafficking in Ghana’s Central Region.
The operation at Gomoa Pomadze led to the arrest of two suspects—Paul Okafor and Duru Favour – also Nigerians.
They were detained to assist the police in the investigation.
A statement from the Central Region Police Command read: “On July 12, 2020, upon information received from an informant, the Winneba District Police Commander dispatched a Police Patrol team to Gomoa Pomadze where they met 3 Ghanaians in the company of Charles Ikorohk, aged 21, a Nigerian. Charles Ikorohk told the team that he arrived into the country from Nigeria to visit a friend but couldn’t trace him “and got stranded.” 
DSP Irene Oppong, the Central Regional Police Spokesperson, said Charles Ikorohk told the team that he met one Uzo at the Kwame Nkrumah interchange area.
He said he later introduced him to Arisuezo, another Nigerian who transported him to Winneba and kept him in a walled house together with other young Nigerians who were locked up in a room.
They were prevented from leaving the compound and subjected to other inhuman treatment as well as engaging in cybercrime. 
DSP Irene Oppong indicated that the victims were brought in by their masters from Nigeria to engage in cybercrimes and were given targets to reach but were abused if they failed to meet their goal.
She added that one of the suspects, Michael Arisuezo, is on the run. She called on the general public to provide information that could lead to his arrest.
The Regional Police Command explained that 36 laptops were also retrieved from the house while the owner of the house where the Nigerians were kept is on police enquiry bail.
The 39 victims have been handed over to the Central Regional Anti Human Trafficking Unit and are currently kept at a shelter centre.
The Command calls on the general public to provide information that could aid the arrest of Michael Arisuezo, the main suspect in the case.
“We are calling on the general public to provide information leading to the arrest of Michael Arisuezo,” DSP Irene Oppong told Accra-based Citi FM.
More than 40 million people worldwide are victims of human trafficking, according to the United Nations’ International Labour Organisation (ILO), 75 per cent of whom are female.
