64 human and sex trafficking victims comprising of Nigerians and
citizens of three other African countries have been rescued following a
cordinated operation by International Police operatives in Mali. 

The raids were carried out at known trafficking and smuggling
hotspots in the country and some of the rescued victims were mostly
females. 

“The victims – mostly women and girls – were rescued from sexual
exploitation forced labour in the mining sector, as well as forced
begging.”

“Tagged ‘Operation Horonya’ (‘freedom’ in Bambara language), the
activities took place from October 3 to 11 “to support the Malian
authorities to identify and dismantle the criminal groups operating in
the country and more widely across the region,” Interpol noted.

“The nearly 70 victims identified and rescued came from Nigeria,
Burkina Faso, Guinea and Mali; and were working in bars, homes and
mining sites,” it stated.

“Among them were three young boys rescued from an illegally operated
Koranic school, where they were allegedly forced to beg for money,” it
added.

Some of the arrested suspects have been detained and awaiting
sentencing as it was further learnt that investigation is currently
being carried out to identify additional suspects.