Females in their 30s ‘were caught trafficking three girls beneath 16’

Police seeking to clamp down on players in the deadly child trafficking scheme, which continues to leave families across the island devastated, say they have apprehended two women who they believe are facilitators in the underground ring.

Police say the women are in their 30s and were apprehended in a recent operation.

Details of the clampdown are yet to be provided by law enforcement officers. Still, in a post on their social media pages, police identified the women as Nicola Brissett, a 33-year-old resident of Lucea, Hanover, and Nicola Johnson, a 39-year-old resident of St Thomas.

The women were apprehended by members of the JCF’s Anti-Trafficking Vice Squad in early October.

Police said the women were charged with trafficking three girls, all under 16 years old.

The information has triggered shock and anger among social media users.

“Women are the biggest facilitators in child trafficking in terms of getting people to trust them,” said one user.

The police say they will provide more information on the case as their probe into the matter intensifies.

In August of this year, the Ministry of National Security said it was collaborating with the Ministry of Education and Youth to inform children about human trafficking.

Director of Children and Family Programmes at the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA), Warren Thompson, said the initiative was necessary, as children are vulnerable to human trafficking.

“There is the inclusion of the trafficking in person content in the Home Family Life Education curriculum in schools, where we want children and teachers to be sensitive and have an awareness of the issue,” Thompson said.

He continued, “they have an internal committee and a plan of action, aimed at basically doing some preventative work in schools across the island, so a number of things are happening in the education sector”.

Manager of the Trafficking in Persons Secretariat in the Ministry of National Security, Audrey Budhi, said following the creation of Anti-Trafficking in Persons (ATIP) clubs in schools in 2019, the National Taskforce Against Trafficking in Persons had a further dialogue on engagement.