Nigerian born French Fugitive, JESSICA EDOSOMWAN is Europe’s Most Wanted Woman

…Recruits 17 young girls from small towns in Nigeria promising to fund their journey to Western Europe

* Compel young Nigerian girls to pay a debt of 50,000 to 60,000 euros each, entrusted victims to an older woman who supervise and collect money from them

* Victims, housed, fed in bad conditions at exorbitant prices, prostituted in streets or trucks. Money recovered and sent back to Nigeria through a traditional informal payment system. Prosecutors estimate girls aged 17 to 38, made up to 150,000 euros a month for the syndicate, selling sex for as little as 10 euros

* ‘Most of the women come from Benin City, a centre of human trafficking, and many told investigators they had made the dangerous journey across the Sahara Desert to Libya, then across the Mediterranean to Italy before ending up in Lyon’-Investigation

* “Jessica Edosomwan, a Nigerian citizen who escaped after police raided a prostitution ring in Lyon, is wanted by French authorities. Jessica has been on the run, but she is believed to be hiding either in the Benelux countries, Italy or Germany”- European Police Office

* BY GEORGE ELIJAH OTUMU/AMERICAN FOREIGN BUREAU CHIEF

SHE IS EUROPE’S MOST WANTED WOMAN on the run for justice. JESSICA EDOSOMWAN, a Nigerian born French resident is a fugitive on the watch list of European Police, Europol for creating a twenty-four persons sex trafficking ring forcing Nigerian women into prostitution in France. She give falsified hopes to young girls in Benin City, Edo state of a better life in Europe, unknowingly for the recruits they are being used as pawns and resource generation for Jessica.

Almost everyone in her gang had been arrested, with only Jessica on the run. Her sex trafficking ring had been busted and they had been placed on trial since late last year in the city of Lyon. Jessica has been tried in absentia. Here’s why the Nigerian was declared by Europol (European Police Office) as its most wanted female suspect.

Jessica Edosomwan is currently wanted for prosecution by the French judicial authorities in an international case of human trafficking and smuggling network. She is alleged to be a member of a criminal network from Nigeria, operating in all the major cities in France.

The organisation is alleged to have recruited young girls from small towns in Nigeria by promising to fund their journey to Western Europe. Once they contracted this debt, the girls were allegedly subjected to a religious (juju) rite, which “provided the criminal network leader, often a religious, a strong psychological hold and a means of pressure on their families in the country”.

When they arrived in France, the young Nigerian girls had to pay a debt of 50,000 to 60,000 euros each. They were then entrusted to an older woman who was in charge of supervising them and collecting the money.

The victims, housed and fed in bad conditions at exorbitant prices, were then prostituted in streets or trucks. The money was recovered and sent back to Nigeria through a traditional informal payment system.

Prosecutors estimate that 17 alleged victims, aged 17 to 38, made up to 150,000 euros a month for the syndicate, selling sex for as little as 10 euros.

Most of the women come from Benin City, a centre of human trafficking, and many told investigators they had made the dangerous journey across the Sahara Desert to Libya, then across the Mediterranean to Italy before ending up in Lyon.

According to the investigations conducted by the French judicial police, 24 persons were involved in this criminal network. Among them is Jessica Edosomwan, who’s accused of recruiting women for the sex trade in Lyon, Nimes and Montpellier. According to Jacques Croly Labourdette, head of the National Fugitive Research Brigade (BNRF), Jessica Edosomwan was a “mama” of this network. As such, the suspect “cared for girls” but also had the mission to find new recruits in Nigeria.

She is also alleged to be involved in the transfer and money laundering in Nigeria. Jessica Edosomwan is reported by Europol, the official intelligence agency of the European Union, to have been on the run since 2017 and could be hiding in France, Germany or Belgium. A European arrest warrant was issued against her in November 2017. Jessica Edosomwan, a Nigerian citizen who escaped after police raided a prostitution ring in Lyon in 2007, is still being wanted today by French authorities.

The 27-year-old fugitive is alleged to have been part of a gang of human smugglers who used a form of witchcraft known as ‘juju’ to force young Nigerian girls into prostitution.

The ring she was involved in exploited some 60 prostitutes who were smuggled into France through Libya with the promise of a better future when they arrived. Once in France, the destitute women were subjected to voodoo ‘juju’ rites and their families were threatened, Europol said.

The victims, who were run by an older woman known as ‘la Mama,’ were then prostituted on the streets. The money they made was then sent back to Nigeria through an informal payment system known as ‘hawala’. Jessica has been on the run since 2017, but she is believed to be either in the Benelux countries, Italy or Germany, police said

The case against the those involved is expected to start in Lyon on November 6 and Edosomwan is the only suspect still outstanding. Among 17 other women wanted are those convicted or accused of crimes including murder, robbery, drugs trafficking and serious fraud by countries across Europe.

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