Two hundred years after the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, the Ghana Police Service says it has uncovered an intra-Ghana slave route between the fishing communities of Bortianor, Kokrobite and Oshiyie in Accra and Yeji in the Brong Ahafo Region. Subsequent to that, four persons believed to be among a group involved in trafficking hundreds of children, aged between five and nine, along the route have been arrested by the police. Police sources said the children, one of whom got drowned last month, were sold into slavery to work as child labourers in the thriving but demanding fishing trade along the Volta River. The police confirmed those arrested as Esi Karley Kofi, 57, Enoch Odartey Lamptey, 30, his wife, Addoley Kpakpo, 27, and Ayigonye,58. Two other members of the cartel, identified only as Yomle and Amewugah, are said to be on the run. Investigations have revealed that the suspects paid between GH¢20 and GH¢30 to the parents of the children, most of whom were boys, with the promise that after an initial period of three years of servitude, they would renew the contracts and pay them more money. According to the Director-General of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Mr Adu Poku, the criminal activity was discovered fol¬lowing the death of a five-year-old boy, Alfred Medi Akpa, from Bortianor at Yeji. He said one of the suspects, Esi Karley, is the grandmother of two of the trafficked boys, aged nine and five. He said Karley, who lives at Senya Beraku, went to Bortianor about four years ago to pick the boys from their mother, Ms Lamiley Lamptey, with the explanation that she wanted to assist her with the upbringing of the kids. Mr Adu Poku said Lamiley used to visit the boys at Senya Beraku from time to time but the visits ceased because she lost her husband and had to fend for their two other children alone. The Director-General said some time in October, Lamiley heard that one of her children had died and had been buried at Yeji. She quickly rushed to Senya Beraku to ascertain the truth or otherwise of the information. On reaching the house, she found her mother weeping uncontrollably. Lamiley asked her mother how the children landed in Yeji, because all that while she thought they were living at Senya Beraku with her. Her mother explained that one Amewugah came for them and gave her GH¢20, with the promise that he would bring them back after three years. According to her, she was in the house when a message came that the boy had drowned in the river while fishing and that he had been buried. Madam Karley explained further that after the message, Amewugah followed up to Senya Beraku to express his condolence to the boy's family and promised to build a two bedroom apartment to compensate the family. Mr Adu Poku said Lamiley did not take kindly to her mother's behaviour so she made a report to the Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) of the Police Service for assistance and the case was referred to the INTERPOL Unit of the CID for further investigations. He said while the police were trying to bring down the other boy from Yeji, they got to know that it was a syndicate operating around Bortianor and its environs which had trafficked the children. He said investigations also revealed that Madam Yomle and Ayigonye, both aged about 60, went round the communities to recruit the children and send them to Yeji to serve fishermen. He said upon interrogation, Ayigonye admitted sending only 10 boys to the place but disclosed that her accomplice on the ran Madam Yomle, had sent over 30 boys there. The director-general said three of the children, aged between 12 and nine, had so far been rescued from Yeji and that plans were far advanced for an operation to rescue the rest of the children. Source: Daily Graphic