A 61-year-old Lebanese arrested by the police in Jos, Plateau State on May 13, had been defiling minors for pornographic activities, the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), has disclosed.
The suspect, Frouri Suleiman, popularly known as Simo, had reportedly lived in Jos for 38 years before his arrest penultimate Thursday, following a complaint to the police by a resident of Abbatoir area in Jos South Local Government of Area, Mrs. Itoro Samuel, that the Lebanese unlawfully had canal knowledge of her daughter, Favour Bassey aged, 14.
He was promptly arrested and held at a police station, but was swiftly transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) of the Plateau State police command when irate youths in the area reportedly barricaded the entrance to the station, and started throwing stones before the situation was later brought under control.
NAPTIP, however, said in a statement on Thursday in Abuja, that the police has handed the suspect over to it for investigation, and was being interrogated by its operatives at the agency headquarters office in Abuja.
While recalling that the agency’s Director-General, Mrs. Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, had on Tuesday, May 18, dispatched a team of investigators to the Plateau State capital when news broke out that the Lebanese had allegedly defiled 11 young girls, NAPTIP said the suspect was brought to Abuja in order to enhance full investigation into the alleged crime.
“I want to assure the parents of the victims and stakeholders that the matter will be handled with the desired attention in order to ensure that justice is adequately served. I want to use this opportunity to thank the police in Plateau State and members of the Civil Society Organisation which provided the necessary intelligence and cooperation that led to the arrest of the suspect”, the NAPTIP DG assured.
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