The Accra Circuit Court has remanded a 24-year-old Nigerian barber, Brainy Effiong, for allegedly trafficking four fellow Nigerian nationals to Ghana under false pretenses and subjecting them to forced cybercrime and abuse.
Effiong is facing seven charges—four counts of human trafficking contrary to Section 2(1) and (2) of the Human Trafficking Act, 2005 (Act 694) as amended by the Human Trafficking (Amendment) Act, 2009 (Act 784), and three counts of assault contrary to Section 84 of the Criminal and Other Offences Act (Act 29) of 1960.
Per court documents, the victims—Robert Ebri (34), Bobby Adams (35), Ime Enyenchi (34), and Romeo Odey (25)—were all lured from Nigeria to Ghana between February and May 2025 with promises of lucrative employment opportunities. Upon arrival, they were instead forced into online scamming operations.
On July 18, 2025, officers from the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the CID Headquarters, acting on intelligence, conducted a raid at an apartment in McCarthy Hill, Accra, where the accused was arrested and the victims rescued.
Investigations revealed that Effiong, referred to as the “chairman,” recruited and harbored the victims, subjected them to grueling work conditions from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. daily with little rest, fed them once a day, and physically assaulted at least two of them.
During interrogation, Effiong reportedly confessed to recruiting and exploiting the victims for cyber fraud activities.
The court has since remanded the accused into custody pending further proceedings.
