Authorities have arrested four Nigerians in Italy over human trafficking and forcing underage girls into prostitution, while engaging the use of voodoo materials.
The suspect include four Nigerian citizens, of whom three are women, and they were arrested in the province of Caserta as part of an investigation by the Catania anti-mafia police into the trafficking of Nigerians who were brought to Italy and forced into prostitution.
Those arrested were a 42-year-old woman and her 36-year-old brother, his 31-year-old wife and a 26-year-old woman.
They are accused of working with other unidentified suspects in Nigeria and Libya in human trafficking, an aggravated crime due to its cross-border nature; as well as causing harm to minors and exposing the injured parties to serious danger to their lives and their physical integrity.
The investigation began following statements made by a Nigerian minor named “Onda” (name changed to protect privacy, ed.), who disembarked in Catania in July 2016 from the Italian Coast Guard ship “Luigi Dattilo” together with 359 other migrants.