11 Prostitutes Arrested In Tamale

The Northern Regional Police Command has, over the weekend, arrested eleven suspected prostitutes in Tamale, the region’s capital.

Speaking to the media, the Regional Crime Officer, Supt. Otuo Acheampong, said the operation that led to the arrest of the ladies, who are both Ghanaians and foreigners, was carried out on Friday, September 6, within the hours of 12 am and 3 am.

He disclosed that his team had a reliable tip-off, which aided in successfully carrying out the arrests.

According to him, as part of ongoing investigations, plans are underway to handover the foreigners among the suspects to the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), who would then look into their stay in the country. He added that those without documents would be charged for illegal entry into Ghana, in addition to their involvement in prostitution.

This is not the first time suspected prostitutes are arrested in the northern regional capital.

It will be recalled that, about five weeks ago, a female gang leader of a commercial sex workers association, made up of mostly pretty teenage girls, was arrested in Tamale, reportedly with samples of human blood and pubic hair, ostensibly for some sort of wired voodoo rituals.

Her arrest disclosed that, about twenty other girls she had forced into prostitution, after she had lured them into Ghana from Nigeria, were in her custody.

The arrested suspect, Chioma Sabina Abaraonye, herself a Nigerian, was said to have lured and trafficked several teenage girls into Ghana under the guise of securing jobs for them as sales girls in multi-million shopping malls and boutiques belonging to her in Tamale. Her Ghanaian accomplice, by name, Sof, was on the run at the time.

According to the story, the innocent girls, upon arrival in Tamale, were grabbed by Chioma, who then shaved down their pubic hair.

She then used a syringe to draw samples of their blood, cut their finger and toe nails as well, and kept each sample, separately labelled with the owner’s names.

“When we came, the madam and her Ghanaian accomplice called Sof took our blood, fingernails, and pubic hair. And told us that now that they have those things from us, if anyone reveals the secret, they will make the person Mad.” One of the victims painfully recounted.

Chioma Sabina Abaraonye and Sof then let the girls know that they are in Ghana for commercial sex but not to work as sales girls.

The contract was that each of the girls were made to pay an amount of GH¢8,000 before they gained their freedom.

“Each night we have to bring at least 100 cedis, otherwise, they would beat us” says another of the victims.

One of her victims, a 23-year-old sex worker, said she had to sleep with up to 10 men a night to raise her daily target, “If not you won’t know peace”.

When interrogated, Chioma told officials: “They said they wanted help, so I brought them. And because of the transport, accommodation and food, so me charging them is it a big deal?”

Human traffickers and smugglers have forced tens of thousands of young African women into prostitution across the world and many of their victims are intimidated and silenced by their so called Madams.

Currently, there is no data on the number of women that are forced to work as prostitutes in Africa, but Europe, official sources say up to 400,000 women, mostly from Africa, are into the trade.

In Ghana, a good a number of prostitutes are from neighbouring West African countries.

It is not clear if Chioma Sabina Abaraonye has been successfully prosecuted or deported.