GIS rounds up 31 suspected prostitutes & human traffickers
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) has rounded up a number of ECOWAS nationals for allegedly engaging in commercial sex and human trafficking in the Western Region.
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The suspects who included two nursing mothers were arrested in a special operation in the Ellembelle District and the Nzema East Municipality.
The Axim Sector Command, led by Deputy Superintendent of Immigration (DSI), Emmanuel Dams, rounded up the suspects, aged between 22 and 27, who included members of a syndicate suspected to be engaged in prostitution and human trafficking.
The Western Regional Public Affairs Officer of the GIS, Assistant Inspector Moses Manford Akakpo, who disclosed this to the Daily Graphic, said the GIS launched an investigation into the growing concerns about their nefarious activities, especially by some of the foreign nationals within the communities in the districts, and the impunity with which a brothel they used operated.
The owner and manager of the brothel, 62-year-old Kofi Bekoe, was also picked up in the operation alongside 16 others, making 17.
Aside from the 17 arrested, 14 others suspected to be human trafficking collaborators, were picked up in two separate mop-up operations.
No travel documents
Assist. Insp. Akakpo said after the arrests, a search conducted as part of the investigation revealed that all the suspects entered the country illegally without passports or any other travel identification documents.
“Further search on them and the premises exposed packs of used and unused condoms, especially in the rooms, Asst. Insp. Akakpo said.
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The GIS Public Affairs Officer added that the suspects operated within and around a brothel disguised as a beach resort in the adjoining district and municipality.
He said a two-day intelligence led operation led to a swoop on the said brothel and some adjourning drinking bars as well as makeshift structures along the coast.
Sustained operation
“The hours of sustained operation saw the arrest of 28 suspected prostitutes, including nursing mothers. In addition, three others – two Nigerian suspects identified as Ndubueze Okereke, 37, and his wife, Ifeoma Okereke, 35, as well as Bekoe, a Ghanaian and the host, are suspected to be operating a child trafficking syndicate.”
He said Bekoe, who is a Ghanaian, was arrested some months ago and granted bail in order to continue with the investigations into a case of harbouring foreign nationals who engaged in prostitution, contrary to Act 29 of the Criminal Code of 1960, Aliens’ Registration Regulation 1974 (L.I. 856) and Section 13 of the Immigration Service Act 2000 (ACT 573), among other relevant legislations of the country.