A Nigerian woman, Franca Asemota, known to her victims as Auntie Franca, used Heathrow as a hub
to traffic at least 40 children and young adults into Europe, Isleworth Crown
Court was told. This is coming after Justice Abdul Kafarati of the Federal High Court sitting in
Abuja on January 13th, ordered her extradition to the United Kingdom for
offences bordering on trafficking of minors.
In March 2015, Asemota was arrested by
the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) on suspicion of money
laundering offences.
She is accused of luring mainly orphans from remote Nigerian
villages with the promise of jobs and education. The report also said she
used "witchcraft, threats, ‘Ju-Ju’ rituals and sexual violence to ensure
they did as they were told before being sold to the sex industry in Europe", Daily Mail reports.
According to the prosecutor, Paul Cabin, the trafficking first came to light after Agency
officials stopped two groups in September and November 2011, travelling on fake
passports.
Investigators later discovered that Franca’s ticket had
been booked at the same time, at the same travel agent in Lagos, and she was
sat next to the group on the plane.
Asemota was linked to six other “successful
trafficking trips” and the kidnapping of two girls who had been placed in
foster care on the south coast.
On the November flight, Cabin said:
Asemota was booked
on the same flight and was also detained because the authorities were able to
see that all of their tickets had been booked at the same time. She denied
any involvement and was eventually released.
The two passengers
detained at Heathrow were arrested and both were interviewed under caution.
Both were charged
and prosecuted, initially. The male was subsequently deported back to
Nigeria. The girl was in fact revealed to be just 14 years old.
She eventually told
the prison authorities her real age and proceedings against her were
discontinued and she was placed in the care of social services.
All five victims,
from both trips, eventually gave video or audio recorded accounts to the UK
authorities.
They all came from
remote Nigerian villages and had all been told that they were going to be
educated, trained, employed in France.
They all had difficult
histories – for example, some were orphans. One was a runaway from an attempted
forced marriage.
All but one
reported at the time that they had been trafficked by a female who accompanied
them on the aircraft from Lagos, known variously as Auntie Franca or Violet.
Cabin went on to say that some victims were “told they
could be trainee hairdressers”. “It was only when they had traveled a long way
from their villages were they told they were really destined for a life of
prostitution,” he added.
According to Asemota’s lawyer, Jose
Olivares-Chandler, she accepted that she was on the same flight with
the victims, but believed she was acting as a “chaperon”. She said she was
accompanying them to the UK, adding that she thought they were travelling for
the first time to the UK to join their families.
“The defendant was unaware of any alleged wrongdoing”
Olivares-Chandler added.
Asemota denied nine counts of conspiracy to traffic persons
for sexual exploitation, two counts of trafficking persons out of the UK for
sexual exploitation, and three counts of assisting unlawful immigration.
4 Comments
What a shame
ReplyDeleteShe'll rot in jail.
ReplyDeleteShe will definitely pay for what she did to others.
ReplyDeleteServes her right...
ReplyDelete