The Federal Capital Territory Police Command has intercepted a white Peugeot 15-seater bus transporting 59 children suspected to have been trafficked.
The children are between four and 12 years old.
A team of policemen led by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Sarki Umar, was said to have stopped the vehicle with registration number, KMC 283 ZJ, along the Abuja-Kano route on Monday.
The driver, Ali Ibrahim, a Kano State resident, and his assistant, Alhassan Ibrahim, were apprehended on the spot.
Addressing journalists in Abuja, the FCT Commissioner of Police, Tunji Disu, said preliminary investigations revealed that the children, who hail from different families in Kano State, were allegedly being transported to Nasarawa State under the guise of receiving training.
Disu added that the incident had been classified as a case of suspected child abuse and trafficking, given the circumstances and the absence of proper documentation or parental consent for the movement of the minors.
He reiterated the command’s commitment to protecting vulnerable groups, particularly children, from exploitation and abuse in line with the Child’s Rights Act 2003.
