39 foreign nationals who were allegedly detained in a suspected human trafficking facility in the Mararaba neighborhood of Karu Local Government Area have been freed by the Nasarawa State Police Command.
The incident was mentioned in a post shared on X on Monday by security analyst Zagazola Makama.
According to Makama, the victims, 32 males and seven females were all from Mali, except one woman from Ivory Coast.
Makama reported, “They were found during a police operation in the Orange Market area of Mararaba.”
Habi Baraji, a Malian national who speaks only Arabic and French, filed a complaint that led to the rescue.
Baraji told the police he was taken to Nigeria approximately a week earlier by another Malian, Abdullahi Berter, who offered to help him fly to France.
Later, when Berter allegedly started pressing him to bring more people from Mali for unknown reasons, he realized he had been duped.
Baraji also told the police that he thought a nearby residence was holding a number of other people.
Detectives responded to the tip by going to the scene, where they discovered 39 foreigners imprisoned in a bungalow, none of whom spoke Nigerian.
“The police immediately evacuated them to safety,” he wrote.
The victims are currently in safe custody as officials start profiling them and get in touch with the Ivorian and Malian consulates to take further action, according to the article.
