Four Nigerians Land In Trouble with Italian Police over Human Trafficking
Four suspected members of a Nigerian cultist group identified as Black Axe have been arrested by the Italian police.
The suspects are charged with human trafficking, kidnapping, slavery and recruiting prostitutes.
In the early hours of Tuesday morning, the Italian police launched operations in the Sicilian regional capital Palermo and on mainland Italy in the Puglian regional capital Taranto. The police were acting on information from a Nigerian migrant who said she had been forced into prostitution by the group.
According to the Italian news agency (AGI), the four suspects are charged with slavery, human trafficking, kidnapping, profiting from prostitution and employing “mafia methods.”
Under Italian law, “employing mafia methods” generally means that those charged have used intimidation and threats to exploit their victims.
Sentences can vary, but being accused of being part of a mafia-like structure in Italy carries with it sentences of between three and six years. Anyone found to have used weapons will have the sentence increased to between four and ten years if found guilty.
Palermo’s flying squad led the investigation via their department for foreign organised crime and prostitution.
One of the suspects was taken into custody in Palermo. The other three were found to be living in Taranto, where they were also taken into pre-trial custody. The Nigerian woman who accused the suspects was supported by a Pentecostal preacher, also from Nigeria.
According to AGI, the woman turned to the preacher for help after being forced to work as a prostitute in Italy.
Those who undergo such a ceremony often swear oaths with their own blood or hair. If they break their oath of silence, they are told either they or their family members will die or be seriously injured.
The woman said she was first kidnapped by a group of Black Axe members in Nigeria. She escaped with the help of a fellow Nigerian but to pay him back, she was asked to travel to Italy as a “slave.” During the ceremony, she promised to pay €15,000 for her journey.
Once the woman arrived in Palermo, under “the threat of death and violence” reports AGI, the woman was forced to work as a prostitute. The money she earned was then taken to “repay” the debt.
