Afia Ohemeng
Nigerian police report they have rescued nearly 500 people from a building in the northern city of Kaduna. They were detained and allegedly tortured.
Those held were all men and boys. Some of them were found chained up.
In a statement to the BBC Kaduna state’s police chief Ali Janga said the large house was raided following a tip-off about suspicious activity.
He also described the structure as a “house of torture” and described it as a case involving human slavery.
The detainees are not all Nigerian. They said they had been tortured, sexually abused, starved and prevented from leaving. Some detainees had been there for several years.
Unfortunately it is not clear how they got there. Some of the boys told police that their relatives had taken them there. According to them, their relatives believed the building to be a Koranic school. The police say there is no concrete evidence to suggest that the building was ever a school.
Eight suspects have been arrested.
The police chief said the detainees – some with injuries – were overjoyed to be freed.
They were taken to a stadium in Kaduna overnight to be cared for while arrangements are made to find their families.
SOURCE: BBC
