4 Arrested for Sexually Exploiting Women

Story: Mary Mensah
FOUR persons who are alleged to have exploited a number of women for sexual purposes at a brothel in Ashaiman have been arrested by the police.
The police have mounted an intensive search for two other suspects who are on the run.
According to the Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent of Police Mrs Patience Quaye, the victims, 33 of whom are Nigerians, were lured into the country under the pretext of being given work as shop attendants, hairdressers and ‘chop’ bar attendants.
She said the arrest formed part of an ongoing exercise embarked upon by the police to arrest human traffickers in the country.
Mrs Quaye said anti-human trafficking units or organisations within the sub-region always shared information on emerging trends in human trafficking, as traffickers always devised means of outwitting the security agencies.
She said intelligence gathered by the police indicated that a group of Nigerian women had been trafficked to Ashaiman and forced into prostitution by the traffickers.
She said the young women, aged between 28 and 33 years, some of whom arrived in the country about two weeks ago, were made to sleep with more than 20 men a day at a fee of GH¢3 per man.
According to Mrs Quaye, the money was paid directly to the traffickers, who gave GHc1 to the brothel owner and used the rest to pay for their expenses.
She said it was realised during the operation that there were Ghanaians among the victims who had been moved from the regions under the pretext of learning trades, only to be pushed into prostitution.
She indicated that the Nigerian High Commission in Accra had been notified and was currently preparing to airlift all the Nigerian women back to Nigeria.