According to reports, Italian authorities have arrested four Nigerian citizens accused of human trafficking and forcing underage migrant girls into prostitution, including through the use of esoteric rituals.

Four Nigerian citizens, of whom three are women, have been arrested in the province of Caserta as part of an investigation by the Catania anti-mafia police into the trafficking of Nigerians who were brought to Italy and forced into prostitution.

Those arrested were a 42-year-old woman and her 36-year-old brother, his 31-year-old wife and a 26-year-old woman.

They are accused of working with other unidentified suspects in Nigeria and Libya in human trafficking, an aggravated crime due to its cross-border nature; as well as causing harm to minors and exposing the injured parties to serious danger to their lives and their physical integrity.

The investigation began following statements made by a Nigerian minor named “Onda” (name changed to protect privacy, ed.), who disembarked in Catania in July 2016 from the Italian Coast Guard ship “Luigi Dattilo” together with 359 other migrants.

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