One Franca Asemota, a 38-year-old Nigerian woman who allegedly forced trafficked teenage orphans into sex trade in Europe has been dragged to court.
Reports say Asemota, popularly called Auntie Franca, was alleged to have used the threat of witchcraft to lure her victims, at least 40 children and young adults into Europe for the illicit trade.
According to Dailymail in an earlier report had said that investigators spent around three years trying to locate Asemota until they successfully traced her to Nigeria on March 25, 2015, and she was arrested and extradited.
They reportedly caught her after two girls, who had been placed with foster parents in 2012 in Worthing, West Sussex by immigration authorities, were kidnapped.
The suspect lured the girls – who were around the age of 14 and mainly orphans from remote Nigerian villages with promises of jobs and education. She then allegedly used witchcraft, threats and violence to force them into the European sex market.
A Jury at Isleworth Crown Court on Wednesday convicted her of eight counts of conspiracy by trafficking people into sexual exploitation.
The jury also found her guilty of two counts of trafficking a person out of the UK for sexual exploitation and two counts of assisting unlawful immigration to an EU member state.
The report said Asemota, of no fixed address, will be sentenced later this month.
