Two personnel of the Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) attached to the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA), Lagos were earlier today arrested for human trafficking at the airport.
The bubble burst on the officers when officials of Aviation Security (AVSEC), an arm of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) who had laid siege at the airside of the airport sweep on them up while attempting to facilitate six underage girls to Omar and Kuwait through Ethiopian Airlines.
A source close to AVSEC said that the AVSEC officials arrested the unscrupulous immigration officers at the departure hall of the airport.
The source gave the names of the two immigration officers as O. Arayinbo and Awosanmi G.
However, the source said that the officers were immediately transferred to National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIT) for further investigation.
The spokesman for immigration, Mr. James Sunday confirmed the arrest over the phone with our correspondent.
Sunday further declared that the service had ordered for a thorough investigation to further reveal the syndicates.
He added that the arrested officers would be transferred to the headquarters in Abuja for appropriate disciplinary action, stressing that the service would not tolerate such act of indiscipline among its men.
It would be recalled that Lagos Airport is one of the points identified for human trafficking in the country.
Just last October, Saharareporters reported how two Ghanaians were arrested by immigration officers for using the airport as an illegal transit point for trafficking point abroad.
A source close to the immigration at the airport had confided in our correspondent that the two ladies (names withheld) were arrested at about 10:00 am following a tip-off to the officials.
The suspects, it was gathered were arrested when they attempted to check-in on an Egypt Air flight MS876 on the suspicion that they were exploring Nigeria to travel to Jordan.
Further interrogations by the NIS officials, however, revealed that their movement was a continuous attempt by Ghanaian young ladies and their collaborators to use the MMIA as a transit route for trafficking of Ghanaian ladies to other continents.
Also, Ethiopian Airlines is notorious for illicit acts. Most drug traffickers arrested in the country are apprehended on the airline in all the points it flies into in Nigeria.