2 arrested for human trafficking

Two women, a Sierra Leonean and a Liberian have reportedly been apprehended in the provisional district of Gbarma in Gbarpolu County, northwestern Liberia while attempting to sell two little girls.

Police sources from the county said the two females, names withheld for security reasons, were arrested on Monday, 9 January in Gbarma Town while negotiating with a Liberian man to sell the kids.

The Liberian man, who is a resident of the town, was contacted by the Sierra Leone woman, who brought the children from Sierra Leone to Liberia with the anticipation of selling them to someone for ritualistic purposes, according to sources.

Ages of the kids have not been disclosed, but this paper also gathered that upon arriving in Liberia, the Sierra Leonean national transferred one of the kids to her Liberian counterpart in a village, while seeking for buyers or customers.

While desperately searching, she was intercepted by a Liberian man, who expressed interest in buying the children, but wanted to establish where the other child was and how much the human commodities were being sold for.

Sources indicated that at this junction, the Sierra Leonean woman told the man that she had the other child at her colleague’s place somewhere in the district, and that if he wanted the two, she would name the location where the child was to be picked up.

The Liberian man then contacted his brother, who an officer of the Liberia National Police (LNP) is assigned in the area and briefed him about the lady’s planned transaction. The human trafficker further told the would-be buyer of the children that she wanted US$30,000.00 for the entire transaction. She was then encouraged to bring the other child to make the transaction easy.

Our source continued that the lady agreed and described the village in which the child was and also requested the would-be buyer to go and collect the child. The purported customer then proceeded there and brought the child along with a woman in whose care it was to Gbarma to receive the money.

It was while in the town with the children that the purported customer alerted his police brother, who along with other officers arrived on the scene and arrested the two women with the children.

The suspects are currently being held at the Gbarma police station, awaiting prosecution. Meanwhile, it is yet to be established which part of Sierra Leone the two kids were kidnapped and subsequently trafficked to Liberia by the Sierra Leonean national.
When this paper contacted the headquarters of the Liberia National Police to verify the information, this reporter was informed that police spokesman Sam Collins was out of office up to press time.

By Emmanuel Mondaye-Editing by Jonathan Browne