The Central East Regional Police Intelligence Department has arrested one suspect and rescued 46 victims, including a child, in a major human trafficking operation at Royal City, a suburb of Gomoa Buduburam in the Gomoa East District of the Central Region.
Police said the operation followed intelligence that a Beninese national, identified as Nathaniel Obassa Oladedji, had been lured from Benin to Ghana and trafficked to Buduburam.
After days of intelligence gathering, officers located a highly fortified house where the victims were being held. A resident told Adom News that police had to disconnect an electric fence and scale a wall to gain access and rescue the victims.
The rescued individuals are nationals of Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Togo, and other Francophone African countries.
Preliminary investigations indicate that traffickers collected large sums of money from the victims and their families under the pretense of facilitating their travel abroad, with some parents reportedly still making payments at the time of the rescue.
Speaking to Adom News, a family member of one of the victims, who wished to remain anonymous, said the suspects deceived and kidnapped the victims, exploiting their desire to travel overseas.
The Public Relations Officer of the Central East Regional Police Command, DSP Victor Dosoo, confirmed the arrest and said investigations are ongoing to apprehend other accomplices and bring all perpetrators to justice.
