Sierra Leone has repatriated thirty-eight Guineans to their home country after being implicated in a plot to traffic Sierra Leoneans abroad under false presences.

This information was confirmed by the Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Brima Kanneh, Regional Commander for the Southern Region, during the Sierra Leone Police regular press conference on Monday 19th August ñ2024 in Freetown.

According to AIG Kanneh, the suspects were in the process of recruiting individuals in Bo Town when they were apprehended. Following their arrest, they were handed over to the Guinean authorities in Bo before being repatriated.

The suspects are alleged to have been part of a human trafficking scheme that preys on individuals from the sub-region by falsely promising them job opportunities abroad.

AIG Kanneh in his statement also revealed that after police investigations it was uncovered that the operation was linked to a fraudulent QNet scheme.

A report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) underscores the severity of human trafficking in West Africa, where children represent more than 75% of detected trafficking victims.

The report, which covers 148 countries and over 95% of the world’s population, relies primarily on official statistics from 2016 to 2019.

The UNODC report indicates that West African countries detect more trafficking victims, particularly children, than other Sub-Saharan African nations, with forced labour being the primary form of exploitation.

Out of 4,799 victims detected in 26 Sub-Saharan African countries, 3,336 were in West Africa, including 2,553 children.

The data suggests that nearly 80% of trafficking victims in West Africa were exploited for forced labour. Human trafficking remains one of the most profitable criminal enterprises globally.