The notorious Nigerian woman, Franca Asemota found guilty oftraffic Nigerian girls through Heathrow Airport to work as sex workers in brothelsacross Europe, was on Thursday sentenced to 22 years imprisonment.
38-year-old Asemota was convicted on Wednesday at IsleworthCrown Court on 12 counts of conspiracy to traffic persons for sexualexploitation, trafficking persons outside of the United Kingdom for sexualexploitation and assisting unlawful immigration.
A statement by the UK High Commission in Abuja, said five ofAsemota’s victims gave evidence against her during the trial.
One of them was rescued from prostitution in Montpellier,France, during a joint operation by the Immigration Enforcement and theNational Crime Agency.
Detectives told the court she was part of a criminal networkthat trafficked girls, boys and women from Nigeria to Europe using threats toguarantee their compliance.
Asemota was identified as a trafficking suspect in2012, but fled from Italy to Nigeria when some of her co-conspirators werearrested by Immigration Enforcement investigators.
She spent time in Europe before the NCA tracked herdown to Nigeria.
In an operation coordinated by the NCA, she wasarrested by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission in Benin in March 2015and was subsequently extradited to the UK in January this year, after heridentity was confirmed.
Asemota was said to have travelled with the girls on flightsfrom Lagos to Heathrow, between August 2011 and May 2012, with the intention ofreaching France.
They remained airside during the transit at Heathrow, so,were not subject to Border Force passport checks. However, the traffickingattempts were foiled when French authorities identified the girl’s falsedocuments on arrival in France.
David Fairclough, from the Immigration Enforcement crimeteam, described the convict as the lynchpin of a trafficking ring whichtargeted vulnerable young women in Nigeria.
He said, “Asemota was the lynchpin of a trafficking ringwhich targeted vulnerable young women in Nigeria, promising them a brighterfuture working in Europe. But it soon became clear that this was far from thetruth. The victims, some as young as 13, were told they would be sold intoprostitution. Asemota travelled with the girls in order to threaten them andkeep them in line.”
The head of the UK Human Trafficking Centre, Martin French,stated that Asemota took advantage of her victims in some of the worst wayspossible.
Hey There!!!!, Don't Skip Without Adding Your Comments...... 😁😁, We Would Love To Hear From You ......... What Do You Think?
Reviewed by Tboixy
on
August 05, 2016
Rating:
No comments: