The Federal Road Safety Corps, on Wednesday, said it arrested a vehicle for overloading along Kaduna-Zaria road, which was later discovered to be occupied by suspected child traffickers with 44 minors.
The Public Education Officer, FRSC, Bisi Kazeem, in a statement disclosed that the driver of the vehicle, Dauda Ezekiel from Gubuchi Village in Makarfi Local Government Area of Kaduna state claimed that he was hired to transport the minors.
Kazeem said, “Two adult occupants of the white and blue coloured vehicle with number plate XC 532 ZAR, were quizzed by FRSC officials only to get unsatisfactory responses.
“The vehicle was thereafter impounded when they claimed they were going for a church programme in a location they could not name.”
The Sector Commander who got wind of the case as soon as the vehicle was impounded alerted the Commissioner of Police in Kaduna state where the vehicle and the occupants were handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
It will be recalled that the FRSC in Kaduna state on 27th April 2017 had earlier reported a similar case of a Ford Galaxy Model vehicle with registration number LMU 76 XA who had 17 minors and three suspected adult traffickers to the Comptroller of Immigration and NAPTIP.
Kazeem disclosed that the Corps Marshal, Boboye Oyeyemi, has applauded the vigilance of the officials of the FRSC which led to the arrest of the suspected child traffickers.
According to him, the Corps Marshal believes that security of lives and properties of the citizens will be better assured with inter-agency collaboration among the security agencies.