The Nigeria Immigration Service has vowed to sustain the fight against all forms of trans-border crimes, especially those that are likely to rubbish the new electronic passport.
Comptroller-General of Immigration, Rose Uzoma gave the assurance while handing over two suspected human traffickers to officials of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.
Uzoma said the suspects whose names were being withheld, hailed from Ogun and Lagos States and were handed over alongside their six victims, which included a six year old boy.
According to her, the suspects were arrested by vigilant immigration officers at the Kwara State Passport Office in Ilorin while trying to procure the new e-passports for their victims.
She said the suspects claimed that the victims were the biological children of one Thomas.
Uzoma said on cross examination, immigration officers discovered that the six children who were purported to be members of one Olatilewa family from Lagos State, bore different surnames and hailed from Edo and Ogun States.
She commending her officers for their security alertness, promising to give such dedicated officers higher challenges and recognition.
Uzoma warned that any immigration officer caught aiding and abetting the abuse of the e-passport would be dismissed and prosecuted.
In a related development, Uzoma paraded two suspected passport and visa racketeers with one of their victim, whose names were being withheld.
The suspects were arrested at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, while attempting to board a Turkish airline flight en route to Ukraine with 61 international passports concealed in their luggage.
She directed the legal unit of the service to release the suspects on bail to responsible sureties, who must be senior civil servants residing in Abuja, while investigation continues.
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