Three siblings who allegedly recruited 10 girls from the Greater Accra and Northern Regions to Nigeria and compelled them to engage in prostitution appeared before an Accra Circuit Court on Thursday.
Fati Abubakari, Memuna Abubakari and Zenabu Abubakari, all traders, are facing 12 counts of conspiracy and human trafficking.
Zenabu is facing an additional charge of allegedly “procuring” one of the victims to leave her matrimonial home in Nanton in the Northern Region to Lagos to engage in prostitution.
They all pleaded not guilty and were admitted to bail in the sum of GH¢10,000 with a surety each to re-appear on January 17.
Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Mary Agbozo told the court presided over by Mrs Georgina Mensah-Datsa that the victims who had been rescued were currently housed in a shelter.
ASP Agbozo said the complainant is a staff of the Regional Advocacy Information and Network Systems (RAIN), a Tamale-based NGO, while the accused persons were based in Ghana and Nigeria.
She said on December 28, last year, one of the victims confided in the complainant that about four years ago she and other girls were recruited from Agbogboloshie in Accra and Gushiegu in the Northern Region and transported to Nigeria under the pretext of securing them jobs.
On their arrival, they were made to sell porridge “kooko” during the day and engaged in prostitution but that the accused persons after collecting the proceeds declined to pay them for their services.
Due to their plight, prosecution said, one of the girls had been doled out of her marital home and another made to undergo series of illegal abortions.
ASP Agbozo said RAIN, therefore, reported the matter to the Police.
The prosecutor said police investigations indicated that the accused persons had been “doing this business for the past 10 years”.
ASP Agbozo said the accused persons, however, had denied the offence but admitted transporting some girls to Nigeria.