Dhaka, Senegal (AP) – The International Police Department Interpol said Tuesday that the police attack has rescued 33 West Africans from a human trafficking circle on the Ivory Coast, which has made people pay and pay for their labor by promising to work in Canada.
The victims paid up to $9,000 for the supposed recruiters who trafficked them to the city of Abidjan on the Ivory Coast, where they were detained under physical and psychological coercion, the agency said in a statement.
They are also forced to take photos of themselves in high-end restaurants and hotels, post their own photos online and post their own photos online, just like in Canada. Trafficking people allow them to have limited connections with their families to maintain the fantasy of living overseas.
In February, in a joint operation between Ivory Coast and Ghana, initial raids were carried out at two locations related to the trafficking ring, with some of the victims coming from there.
The plan was first exposed when the fathers of the two victims appeared to Ghanaian authorities. The victims were from Benin, Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana.
Ivory Coast National Police Director General Youssouf Kouyate praised the “close cooperation” with the Ghanaian police and Interpol, as well as the “heroic assistance of the victims who stood up to assist the investigation”.
Interpol statement said that after 33 victims were released, they were forwarded to NGOs for evaluation.
This type of scam is becoming more common in West Africa, where police forces in the region have carried out large-scale attacks in the past, including more than 300 arrests in 2024.
With 196 member states, Interpol is committed to helping national police communicate with each other and tracking suspects and criminals in areas such as counter-terrorism, financial crime, child pornography, cybercrime and organized crime.
