Edo State Police command has arrested a Pastor attached to one of the Pentecostal churches in Benin, Pastor Endurance Ehioze, and his sister, for their alleged involvement in the trafficking of girls to Russia. The Edo State Police Commissioner, Haliru Gwandu, and his men were interrogating the suspects at press time. He told Vanguard: “You can see we just arrested them and are investigating before we know what to tell you.” Luck was said to have run out of the Pastor when a non-governmental organisation informed the Police of the Pastor’s activities.
A victim’s
story One of the trafficked victims, Miss Florence Abu, 24, lamented how she was dumped in the street of Russia after she paid $45,000 to her madam, appealing to government and Nigerians to come to her aid as she had contracted what she described as mysterious ailment. She narrated: “It all started in 2012 when a member of my Church at Isihor, a Pastor, said he wanted to see me in church. I went. He asked me if I will like to travel out and I told him yes but that I don’t have money. He assured me that the money wasn’t a problem. “He said his sister, based in Russia, will take me abroad.
He said in less than two months I will be able to pay up the money my madam will spend and that since am a hair stylist and singer I will make it. “Later, I was introduced to the sister abroad. Her name is Vivian Ehioze. I had to borrow money to do my passport. She kept calling and assuring me that all will be well. I was made to take oath of allegiance. “As part of oath of allegiance they took my pubic hair and nails which they kept and said whenever I finished payment, I will be free from any evil attack.”
