By Grace Q. Bryant
An Ivorian national identified as Yacouba Sawadogo has been arrested, charged, and sent to jail for trafficking eleven (11) Sierra Leoneans to Liberia, under the pretense of providing them travel opportunity to Canada, to work and earn money to live better lives.
Defendant Yacouba, along with his accomplices, Foday Kabia and Ibrahim S. Bangura, were in violation of Section 2 A&B and 10.4 of the new Trafficking in Persons Act and the Penal Law of Liberia.
The victims include Amin Toure, Fatumata Sesay, Cecelia Kargbo, Abdul Bangura, Abass F. Kanu, Hassan A. Kargbo, Hassan Sesay, Amindu Conte, Bangura O. Alieu, Ibrahim S. Kamara, and Foday O. Bangura.
The police charge sheet noted that the victims were made to pay US$ 1,000.00 each at their Kebbah Q-net office in Barnersville Township, but rather than travel to Canada as expected, they were kept in an isolated place under the control of the Q-net office.
The victims said they were later diverted to the Q-net business control, with instructions for each of them to bring two additional persons in order to start earning, having been deprived the refund of their money.
According to one of the victims, Amin Toure, in September 2022, he received a call from his brother-in-law, only identified as Foday, telling him that he has a traveling program to travel to Canada, but that he (Toure) needed to come Liberia to start the process.
He explained that on September 9, he came to Monrovia and met Foday Kabia, who took him immediately to their Blue Diamond 006 office, located in Kebbah, Barnersville, and introduced him to Yacouba Sawadogo.
He furthered that the next day, he was taken to the office and there he paid the amount of US$ 1,000 for his travel process to Canada, but since then, he has not traveled, but was told to bring two other persons to join the program. He requested for his money, but they have refused to return said amount.
Another victim, Fatumata Saysay, said in May, she was in Sierra Leone when Abraham Bangura called her from Liberia and told her about a traveling program to Canada and asked her to come to Liberia.
She said upon her arrival in Liberia and meeting Ibrahim, he took her to their office and introduced her to Yacouba Sawadogo, who was responsible for processing her traveling documents. She gave him US$ 1,000.00 for all the documents for the program, but up to present, she has not traveled, and neither has she gotten her money back.
As for victim Ibrahim, he informed the investigation that on January 5, while in Sierra Leone, defendant Bangura called him from Liberia and told him about a traveling program to Canada and told him to come to Liberia with US$ 1,000, in order to benefit from the program.
He continued that upon his arrival in Liberia, he met Bangura, who took him to Q-net office and introduced him to Yacouba and he paid US$ 1,000 for the processing of the travel documents.
After paying said amount, he was told by Yacouba to stay in Liberia for three months and attend orientation, but during his stay at the office, he averred that he was never given food or even water by Yacouba or Ibrahim, which caused him to go to the streets on late evenings to beg for food to survive.
He concluded that after staying in Monrovia for three months he asked Yacouba about their travel but he got no favorable response.
Defendant Yacouba Sawadogo, having been informed of his Miranda rights, chose to remain silent and not speak to the investigation regarding the allegations from the victims.
