BURKINA-FASO: THE NATIONAL POLICE CRACK DOWN ON A NETWORK OF CRIMINALS INVOLVED IN HUMAN TRAFFICKING
The National Police, acting through the Hauts-Bassins Regional Judicial Police Service (SRPJ) in the city of Bobo-Dioulasso, has dismantled a network of alleged criminals specialising in human trafficking.
The group in question was made up of 8 individuals, all of foreign nationality, who were deceiving the public by claiming to be commercial agents for a business called «Qnet».
According to the details provided by the national police force, the modus operandi of these criminals was to make their relatives in their countries of origin believe that they were running a very lucrative business in Burkina Faso, generating income in US dollars.
They demanded that anyone who fell for their ruse pay between 430,000 and 663,000 CFA francs to get a place in the company.
These funds were paid directly into the account of the alleged company via the phones of the alleged crooks using applications designed to blur the trail.
The victims only became aware of the deception once they arrived in Burkina Faso. And then they have to put up with it.
Worse still, they in turn had to use all possible fraudulent and deceptive manoeuvres to bring in other relatives.
On learning of this trafficking, the police launched an investigation which, thanks to the cooperation of the local population, led to the group’s members being caught.
A number of items were seized from the criminals, including laptops of various brands, foreign passports and various other documents.
The National Police would like to reiterate their thanks to the public for their cooperation in achieving this result.
They would also like to take this opportunity to call on the public to remain vigilant and continue to report suspicious cases to the freephone numbers 17, 16 and 1010.
Olivier TOE
