Posted by By PETRUS OBI, Enugu on
A deaf and dumb girl of about 30 years of age, Ifenyinwa Onunkwo from Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State, has been arrested for using fellow deaf ladies he recruited from Cameroon for prostitution.
• Deaf and dumb runs prostitution ring with deaf and dumb ladies
A deaf and dumb girl of about 30 years of age, Ifenyinwa Onunkwo from Idemili Local Government Area of Anambra State, has been arrested for using fellow deaf ladies he recruited from Cameroon for prostitution.
The suspect who was nabbed by the National Agency For The Prohibition Of Traffic in Persons And Other Related Matters (NAPTIP) was reported to have traveled to Cameroon from where he recruited five girls and two boys, all deaf and dumb and brought them to Nigeria under the pretext that she has a good job for them.
Ifenyinwa was said to have warned them against telling their parents or relations about the movement to Nigeria and when they arrived the country she chose Enugu as the safest place for her plan; thus they settled in a hotel in Enugu from where she sent them out for prostitution.
Too complex for the deaf
The South East zonal head of NAPTIP, Ijeoma Okoronkwo told newsmen at her Enugu office that the agency had been on their trail and noted that Ifenyinwa initially used them for begging, "but one of the boys revolted at a time and said he was not interested in that business."
He reportedly bolted away from them and secured a job with the hotel they were staying; the Association for the Deaf in Enugu started disturbing them and reported to the Agency, this caused the suspect to bolt with the remaining boy, who she had promised marriage, and the five girls, from Enugu to Lagos.
From their new camp in Lagos one of the girls reportedly got access to the internet and got across to her brother in the US, and was rescued. This left Ifenyinwa with a boy and four girls.
This was the situation when one of the remaining girls got in touch with a deaf couple and narrated her ordeal to the couple, who in turn assisted her to return to the Association of the deaf in Enugu, who in turn sent her to the Agency for assistance.
Thug-wielding dumb
Ifenyinwa reportedly got in touch with the deaf couple and sent thugs to threaten them to bring back the girl or risk their lives. The couple reportedly buckled and returned to appeal to the association of the deaf to release the girl so they could send her back to Ifenyinwa.
It was at this point that the NAPTIP contacted the police to take care of the threat to the lives of the couple.
The invitation of the police caused Ifenyinwa to elope from her hotel in Lagos and went into hiding with her people.
Luck, however ran out on her when one day, the boy who earlier pulled out from Ifenyinwa to work in the hotel wanted to travel: "He didn't know we were on their trail because we were sure they didn't know anywhere. So, if he was traveling to Lagos, it was likely he would meet with his people."
It was the boy, not knowing he was trailed, that eventually led the Agency to where Ifenyinwa was hiding and she was arrested and brought to Enugu.
Mrs. Okoronkwo disclosed that the Agency was making efforts to recover the remaining two girls in Lagos while Ifenyinwa and the two boys are in the custody of the agency.