The Lagos Airport Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS, has refused the departure of nine female passengers from the Murtala Mohammed International Airport to Lebanon and Dubai.
Command Comptroller, Abdullahi Usman, said that the affected young passengers were denied departure because they are suspected to be leaving the country on purely human trafficking basis.
Usman said that upon interrogation, the girls disclosed that they were going for employment in the Middle East and declined to reveal the identities of their agents.
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The Comptroller also stated that 30 Nigerian females voluntarily returned from Mali with the assistance of the International Organisation for Migration, IOM.
He noted that the females had travelled to Mali by road en route Europe but were trapped in Mali for years as they were used for prostitution.
Usman stressed that the NIS is committed to tackling the menace of human trafficking from the country.