The Anambra state government has sealed off two brothels used as hideouts for criminals and arrested and paraded 23 persons suspected to be engaged in different illegal activities.
The team also rescued 27 underage girls being trafficked for prostitution in the brothels.
The arrests and rescue were carried out during a raid in Amawbia, Awka South Local Government Area, by the enforcement team of Operation Clean and Healthy Anambra, OCHA Brigade, led by the Managing Director, Comrade Celestine Anere.
Comrade Anere, in an interview, revealed that the raid followed numerous complaints and petitions received by the Brigade over the suspected criminal and illegal activities going on in the brothels.
He said upon investigation, they found out that the brothels were harbouring illicit drug traffickers and also were hideouts for criminal gangs who specialize in phone snatching.
The OCHA Brigade boss also revealed that the 27 girls who were being trafficked as commercial sex workers were aged between 13 and 17 and were exposed to different forms of hard drugs and predatory sexual practices.
Some of the arrested suspects, Chinwuba Mba, Chukwuka Okoye, and Emmanuel Chukwuebuka, pleaded innocent of involvement in any of the crimes and insisted that they were only at the place at the wrong time and had legitimate businesses they were doing in Anambra that were verifiable.
One of the rescued girls (name withheld) was lured into the place by a woman who promised to assist her with N50,000 for her mom’s hospital bills, while the second girl said she was a single mother and was introduced into the business because she wanted to be able to fend for her child.