Police Search for Suspected Slave Ship
West African police hunted today for a ship thought to be carrying scores of suspected child slaves that has been roaming off the coast for more than two weeks.
Police in Benin’s commercial capital, Cotonou, said they had alerted neighboring countries to prevent the ship’s captain from disembarking its human cargo, believed to be 180 children sold by poor families.
The Nigerian-registered MV Etireno, which began its journey in Cotonou, was turned back in the Gabonese capital of Libreville by port officials who suspected child trafficking. Authorities in Cameroon’s port of Douala also refused to allow the boat to dock.
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