Plateau State authorities arrested 14 people and rescued 11 children from an illegal park being used as a child trafficking hub, breaking up a child labour syndicate that had operated for roughly a decade.
The operation, led by the state government's security operatives, uncovered the ring after investigations into the illegal park revealed it served as a coordination point for exploiting minors. Officials discovered that the syndicate had been systematically moving children through the facility, using it to process victims before sending them to various exploiters across the region.
The 11 rescued children are now in state custody. Officials say they are being assessed for physical and psychological trauma and will be connected with support services. The state has not yet released details about the children's ages, where they came from, or how long they spent in the hands of their traffickers.
The 14 arrested suspects are facing interrogation. Investigators are working to establish the full scope of the operation, including how many children the ring moved through the park over its ten years of activity and which other locations may have been involved in the trafficking network. Authorities say they are also tracing the networks that received the children to identify other perpetrators.
Child labour remains a persistent problem in Nigeria. Plateau State, like much of the country, has struggled with organised trafficking rings that exploit minors for domestic work, farming, mining, and street hawking. This bust represents one of the state's largest operations against such networks in recent years.
The state government said it will press charges against all 14 suspects under Nigeria's Child Rights Act and other relevant trafficking laws. Officials plan to intensify raids on suspected trafficking hotspots across Plateau in coming weeks.
