Busted: Police rescue 22 minors from Ogun sex slave camp

Men of Sango-Ota Area Command, Ogun State, have raided Kolab Hotel along Ayetoro Road, Itele area of the state and rescued 22 ladies, including underage girls used for prostitution at the facility.

The manager of the hotel, its supervisor and eight other male workers were also arrested during the operation on Friday evening shortly after our correspondent contacted the spokesperson for the state police command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, for comments on the undercover investigation carried out at the facility.

One of the minors, a 16-year-old, recounted how she dropped out of school at Senior Secondary School 1 due to financial constraint. She narrated how one Aunty brought her from Calabar, Cross River State, sometime in November 2020 to work with one Madam as a salesgirl so she could raise money to return to school.

To her dismay, the madam changed her real name to Abigail and turned her into a sex slave, collecting proceeds of prostitution – N500 per client for short time (brief sex) and N1,000 for all-night romp – from her on a daily basis.

The minor’s appeal that she was tired and wanted to return to her hometown in Calabar fell on deaf ears, adding that the aunty didn’t allow her access to a mobile phone.

The Police moved in after a story by Saturday PUNCH. The police team, led by Area Commander Sango-Ota, ACP Muyideen Obe, stormed the hotel on Friday and rescued 22 persons.

Abimbola, the police spokesperson in the state, in a statement on Saturday, also said 11 male suspects were apprehended at the facility.

He said, “The police team, upon credible intelligence received that minors were being recruited from other states and used as commercial sex workers at Kolab Hotel in Itele-Ota, stormed the said hotel around 8pm on Friday. Twenty-two teenagers were rescued.

“On interrogation, the girls narrated how they were lured from their respective villages in Akwa Ibom State to come to Ogun State, with the promise to employ them as salesgirls in restaurants and supermarkets, only for them to get to Lagos and be transferred to a brothel in Ogun State as commercial sex workers.

“They narrated further that they were deprived of using phones or any communication devices, therefore, making it impossible for them to reach out to their parents or relations. The Commissioner of Police, Edward Ajogun, has ordered that the family support unit of the Area Command take over the investigation of the case, identify the recruiting cartel and bring them to justice as soon as possible.”

Rescued girls share ordeal:

Vivian, 15, a Senior Secondary School 3 pupil, said that she needed money to pay for a contribution meant to bribe invigilators during external examinations that would be held in August.

She said her cousin, named Happiness, brought her to Lagos from Akwa Ibom with a promise to help her secure a salesgirl job to raise money.

She explained, “I arrived at Lagos last Sunday without my mum’s consent. Happiness took me to the hotel in Ogun and she handed me over to one madam. In the evening, the woman asked me if I knew the nature of the job I would be doing and I said selling clothes. She then told me it is prostitution. I felt sad and told her I couldn’t do it. I was crying.”

Vivian said on Tuesday, the madam, whose name she couldn’t mention, asked her to wear short dresses and hang around for clients, stating that men approached her but she ignored them.

She added, “I started praying to God to save me. I was crying that I wanted to go back but nobody listened to me. On Thursday, my friends warned me that Madam would beat me if I didn’t make any money. So I allowed a man to ‘sleep’ (have sex) with me. He gave me N1,000 and Madam collected it.