Mbanza Kongo – The Border Police of Zaire Province on Monday arrested three individuals in the municipality of Mbanza Kongo, specifically in the border commune of Luvo, one of whom was a female, accused of attempting to engage in the trafficking of human beings to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The accused, all from the DRC, were surprised by border guard forces when, in the company of seven 17-year-olds, they tried to cross the border into the neighbouring country through clandestine routes known as “fiotes”.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Zaire Provincial Command of the National Police, Lieutenant Luís Bernardo, explained that two of the seven children were female, aged between 10 and 17.
Luís Bernardo said that two of the detainees were living illegally in the Luvo commune and that they had been contacted by a supposed Congolese missionary, who was allegedly in Luanda on a pastoral mission, to help her cross the border with seven children of Angolan nationality.
According to the police spokesman, the alleged missionary, aged 46, from Kikuite (DRC), had acquired the children from a children's home called Santa Rita de Acácias, where she supposedly works.
“After their arrest, the suspects tried to corrupt the National Police officers on duty with 49,000 kwanzas”, said the spokesman, adding that the children are still in the custody of the Luvo border authorities.
This is the first case of alleged human trafficking to the DRC that the police in Zaire have recorded since the beginning of this year.
The border commune of Luvo is 60 kilometres north of the city of Mbanza Kongo, Zaire Province’s capital city.
Four municipalities in Zaire province share a border with the DRC, namely Mbanza Kongo, Soyo, Cuimba and Nóqui, covering 310 kilometres.
JL/MRA/jmc
