Delta State Police Command has uncovered and dismantled an alleged torture apartment operated under the guise of Hustlers Kingdom (HK), where seven young boys were reportedly held against their will and subjected to severe physical abuse in the name of ‘learning yahoo yahoo’, otherwise known as internet fraud.
The Command’s spokesperson, Superintendent of Police (SP) Bright Edafe, who made this known in a video posted on his Facebook page, said the Police swung into action after receiving a complaint from one of the victims, a 28-year-old identified as Chukwuike, who escaped by jumping out of a window to seek help.
According to the victim, he had been held in the apartment for ‘two months and one day’. He alleged that the operators of the apartment routinely flogged the boys with cane and denied them food.
He said: ‘We don’t eat. Sometimes, we eat once in a day and then stay four days again without food. We don’t have access to our phones. Anytime we tell the chairman that we want to go, he beats us with cane and refuses to let us leave. That was why I jumped from the window to report to the Police. The marks on my back were done by my chairman because we didn’t have a paying client’.
Another victim, a 23-year-old from Benue State, said he had only spent one month in the apartment but was prevented from leaving despite informing the ‘chairman’ on his first day that he wanted to return home.
According to Edafe, the boys were routinely whipped, leaving deep wounds. ‘You need to see the boy’s back’, he added, describing the level of brutality uncovered.
Acting swiftly on the tip-off, operatives of the Command invaded the location, rescuing all seven victims. Two suspects, who identified themselves as the ‘chairmen’ of the HK ring, were arrested during the operation.
The victims are currently receiving medical attention, while the suspects remain in custody as investigations continue.
The police said they will be charged with offences bordering on human trafficking, unlawful detention, physical assault, and exploitation.
Superintendent Edafe cautioned parents, guardians and young Nigerians about the growing proliferation of HK-style criminal hideouts, stressing that the Command will continue to raid and dismantle such operations across the state.
The Delta State Police Command also vowed to intensify its crackdown on syndicates preying on and endangering vulnerable youths.
