Nigerian Woman Arrested in UK For Trafficking Nigerian Orphans For Prostitution in Europe

According to Dailymail, Franca Asemota,  a 38-year-old trafficking boss known to her victims as Auntie Franca, reportedly used Heathrow airport as a hub to traffic teenage children and young adults into Europe.

Asemota, who is accused of luring mainly orphans from remote Nigerian villages with the promise of jobs and education, allegedly used witchcraft, threats, juju rituals, and sexual violence to ensure they did as they were told before being sold to the sex industry in Europe.

In 2011, Asemota’s notorious trafficking was first discovered when Border Agency officials stopped two groups, one in September and one in November, travelling on false passports.

Although she was not arrested at the time, her ticket had been booked at the same time and with the same travel agent in Lagos, and she was also sat next to the group on the plane.

Asemota was then linked to six other ‘successful trafficking trips’ and the kidnapping of two girls who had been placed in foster care on the south coast, investigators claimed.

The two girls were spirited out of the country to Spain but one girl’s fake passport was spotted and she was returned back to Britain.

This allowed investigators to trace Asemota to Nigeria from where she was deported to face trial where she was spotted today, wearing a pink jumper with her hair tied back, and weeping in the dock as Paul Cabin outlined the prosecution’s case.

Cabin said the three people were first stopped at Heathrow.

He continues: ‘They held consecutively issued tickets and were all carrying passports that stated they were all over the age of 18. The passports were suspected to be false.

‘They were refused permission to board the aircraft and were arrested on suspicion of identity card offences.

‘Asemota was travelling on the same Air France flight, but was not stopped or apprehended.’

In November, a male and a female passenger were also stopped on a later flight.

‘Asemota was booked on the same flight and was also detained because the authorities were able to see that all of their tickets had been booked at the same time. She denied any involvement and was eventually released.

‘The two passengers detained at Heathrow were arrested and both were interviewed under caution.

‘Both were charged and prosecuted, initially. The male was subsequently deported back to Nigeria. The girl was in fact revealed to be just 14 years old.

‘She eventually told the prison authorities her real age and proceedings against her were discontinued and she was placed in the care of social services.

‘All five victims, from both trips, eventually gave video or audio recorded accounts to the UK authorities. They all came from remote Nigerian villages and had all been told that they were going to be educated, trained, employed in France.

‘They all had difficult histories – for example, some were orphans. One was a runaway from an attempted forced marriage.

‘All but one reported at the time that they had been trafficked by a female who accompanied them on the aircraft from Lagos, known variously as Auntie Franca or Violet,’ Cabin added.

Cabin told the court that some victims were ‘told they could be trainee hairdressers.’ It was only when they had traveled ‘a long way from their villages were they told they were really destined for a life of prostitution,’ jurors heard yeterday.

The court heard that the two underage girls were snatched from their guardians by a ruthless ‘Ju Ju’ smuggling gang.

The girls, one of whom was just 14, were taken into care after being caught with fake passports at Heathrow airport in 2011, the court was told.

Cabin told the court: ‘The story typically starts with the targeting of young teenage girls in remote Nigerian villages.

‘They and their families and guardians are told that educational and work opportunities exist in Europe for them.

Cabin said: ‘From 2012, the investigation team concentrated on trying to track down Asemota. They achieved their goal in 2015, when it was discovered that she was in Nigeria.

An extradition warrant was issued to the Nigerian authorities and the defendant was arrested on March 25, 2015 in Nigeria. She was extradited to the UK on January 27, 2016. ‘

Jose Olivares-Chandler, who is the defence lawyer of the accused, said that Asemota believed she was acting as a ‘chaperone’.

The defendant accepts that she was a passenger on the flights with the victims on a number of occasions, Chandler said.

‘But she says she was accompanying the complainants from Nigeria to the UK and was a mere chaperone.

‘She thought they were travelling for the first time to the UK to join their families.’

Chandler said his client had never met the victims before the flight adding that in relation to the kidnapping, Asemota was contacted by one of the girls and believed she was helping with her immigration application.

He said: ‘The defendant was unaware of any alleged wrong-doing.’

Asemota has denied nine counts of conspiracy to traffic persons for sexual exploitation, two counts of trafficking persons out of the UK for sexual exploitation, and three counts of assisting unlawful immigration.

The trial continues.

Photo credit: David Dyson/Alamy stock