Rivers State Police command has confirmed the arrest of some suspected commercial sex workers who allegedly force under-aged girls for sex work in a brothel around Azikiwe Street Mile 2 Diobu Port Harcourt.
The Command’s Public Relations officer, Grace Iringe-Koko, said operatives of the command also rescued some of the under-aged victims during an operation in the brothel.
The operation comes after an alert from Rumuolumeni Division following a complaint they received from a relative of one of the girls before raiding the brothel.
Speaking on the development, the Chairman of Centre for Basic Rights Protection and Accountability Campaign in Rivers State, Iyke Alexander called on the police to synergize with the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons to ensure “proper prosecution of arrested suspects”.
Alexander further called on the Rivers State Government to partner with NAPTIP to ensure regular “surveillance on all the brothels in the State”.
On his part, a resident of the area, where the brothel is located, Peter Okosa commended the Police for rescuing the girls.
Okosa added that the underage girls were often ‘lured by the sex workers” into the trade.
