Nigerian national arrested for suspected human trafficking in Ghana

The Savannah Regional Command of the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), has arrested a Nigerian national suspected of human trafficking. 

The suspect identified as Prince James, was arrested in Kloth, a community near Damongo in the Savannah Region.

The Savannah Regional Commander of the Ghana Immigration Service, L. A. Agyapong, who confirmed the arrest to journalists on Thursday, October 22, 2026, alleged that the suspect was part of a trafficking syndicate operating across Nigeria, Benin, Togo and Ghana.

According to him, the suspect allegedly trafficked girls and sent them to remote communities in the Savannah Region where illegal small-scale mining, known as galamsey, is ongoing, to engage in prostitution.

He said the suspect had lured a victim (name withheld) to a community near Damongo.

“We were able to track the suspect to his hideout and arrest him. We have taken his statement, and he will be transferred to our headquarters for further investigations,” Mr. Agyapong said.

He was optimistic that the arrest could help authorities identify and apprehend the suspect’s alleged accomplices.

"We hope that the arrest of the suspect, who allegedly teamed up with others to lure girls into Ghana, particularly the Savannah Region against their will, will help us track down his accomplices and serve as a deterrent to others,” he said.

The victim (name withheld), a nurse from Nigeria, told journalists that the suspect had promised to help her secure a well-paid nursing job in Ghana.

“He told me he had someone in Ghana who could get me a well-paid nursing job. When I arrived, I realised it wasn’t a hospital job I had been promised, but prostitution,” she said.

She alleged that several other girls had been trafficked to the Savannah Region and taken to a location near Damongo for prostitution.

"Most of the girls there smoke and engage in sexual activities with men. That was when I realised this wasn’t the work I had been promised,” she disclosed.

“I was pressured to accompany a client to his home for the night,” she said. 

According to the victim, she escaped around 4 a.m. and ran into the bush, where a farmer later found her and took her to the police.

"When I followed the client to his home, I escaped into the bush around 4 a.m., I met a farmer, who rescued me and took me to the police to report the incident,” she said.