Franca Asemota taken away by London Police on arrival from an extradition flight in January
Nigerian fugitive Franca Asemota, extradited to the United Kingdom in January by Nigerian authorities for human trafficking and sexual exploitation, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison by a Crown Court.
Franca was convicted on August 3 at Isleworth Crown Court for eight counts of conspiracy to traffic persons for sexual exploitation, two counts of trafficking persons outside of the UK for sexual exploitation and two counts of assisting unlawful immigration.
Asemota is said to be part of a criminal network that forced dozens of teenage orphans and hopeless women from Nigeria into prostitution and slavery in the UK, allegedly using ‘juju magic’ as a threat to keep her victims loyal and obedient.
Asemota, called‘Auntie Franca’ by her victims, used Heathrow airport as a hub to traffic at least 40 girls and young women to Europe from remote Nigerian villages.
Her trafficking activities first came to light when Border Agency officials stopped two groups, in September and November 2011, travelling on fake passports. As a result of this, she fled the UK to Nigeria before she could be arrested.
She lay low for three years until she was eventually pinned down by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crime Commission in Benin City in March 2015.
A satisfied CPS London lawyer, David Davies, talking about the verdict, said that Franca played a key role in exploiting the poverty and vulnerability of her victims with the aim of forcing them into prostitution to make money for criminals.
Asemota, 37, would be 59 when she walks away from prison in 2038.
cpcnews.org 