Human trafficking: kidnapped teenager reunited with family after INTERPOL operation

11 July 2022

Intelligence from Operation Weka II unveils Togo location of schoolgirl trafficked from Burkina Faso

OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso – Police cooperation via INTERPOL has enabled Togo police to release a teenage girl from sexual exploitation and reunite her with her family in Burkina Faso.

The 17-year old schoolgirl went missing from her Ouagadougou home in January. She was identified as a potential trafficking victim during last month’s Operation Weka II, an INTERPOL-led crackdown on the criminal groups behind human trafficking and migrant smuggling across 44 countries worldwide.

After rescuing the kidnapped girl, Togo police brought her to the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in Lomé where NCB officers arranged for her return to Burkina Faso.

NCB Lomé officers accompany the girl from the police headquarters, which houses the Togo NCB , to her Burkina Faso flight on Friday 8 July.

The 17-year old schoolgirl had gone missing several months earlier and was subsequently identified as a potential trafficking victim during INTERPOL’s Operation Weka II.

The girl was met by NCB Ouagadougou staff upon her arrival in Burkina Faso.

NCB Ouagadougou staff accompany the rescued girl to meet her family upon arrival in Burkina Faso.

Police cooperation via INTERPOL enabled Togo police to release the girl from sexual exploitation and reunite her with her mother in Burkina Faso

Head of NCB Burkina Faso Commissaire Principal Daoud Traore also welcomed the rescued school girl back to her home country

Just a phone call away from freedom

Secretly using one of the kidnapper’s mobile phones, the girl had called her parents who notified Burkina Faso authorities that their missing daughter had been kidnapped, and that she had called from a number in Togo.

Alerted by the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in Ouagadougou, and using sophisticated telephone tracing techniques learned during Operation Weka preoperational training, NCB Lomé traced the phone number to where the girl was held captive in Togo.

“Beyond our professional duty to protect vulnerable people from all forms of abuse, it is a personal satisfaction to have rescued this young girl, who was being sexually abused and exploited on our territory.” Commissaire Principal Akakpo, Head of NCB Lomé

“Thanks to INTERPOL's police capabilities and co-operation, the young girl has been reunited with her family in Burkina Faso,” added the Head of NCB Lomé.

A suspect thought to be involved with the kidnapping has been arrested in Togo for sexual exploitation of a minor.

“This case is a great success for NCB Ouagadougou and our INTERPOL General Secretariat colleagues at the Vulnerable Communities - Human Trafficking and Smuggling of Migrants Unit. Their West Africa team delivered the expert training which is what made the case in the end, and I congratulate Togo police authorities for their outstanding investigative work,” said Head of NCB Burkina Faso Commissaire Principal Daoud Traore.

“A combination of international police co-operation and training on innovative new investigative skills had an immediate impact on front line action and ultimately saved the life of an underage victim even though their only clue was a telephone number,” added the Ouagadougou NCB Head.

NCB Lomé staff accompanied the girl to her Togo-Burkina Faso flight on Friday 8 July. She was met by NCB Ouagadougou staff upon her arrival in her home country the same day.