Operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Oyo State Command, have rescued two foreign nationals lured from the Congo region to Ibadan under the guise of lucrative employment opportunities.
The operation, carried out on Tuesday, September 8, 2026, was launched following actionable intelligence dispatched from NAPTIP’s national headquarters.
According to officials, the victims—citizens of the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)—were targeted by an international human trafficking syndicate. Upon their arrival in the Oyo State capital, the victims were confined in an undisclosed hotel where suspects used force and threats to extort funds from their families in their home countries.
Following their rescue, NAPTIP provided the victims with immediate temporary shelter and medical assessment. They have since been transferred to the Oyo State Command of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) for official profiling and repatriation procedures.
While the primary suspects remain at large, NAPTIP confirmed that a full-scale investigation is underway to track down the syndicate members. Agency officials emphasized that the successful rescue highlights the critical role of timely intelligence sharing and cross-agency collaboration in combating human trafficking across borders.
