People imagine human trafficking as something dramatic — a struggle in a dark alley, a van with tinted windows, a stranger who grabs a child off the street. I wish it were that easy to spot. In more than four decades of law enforcement work, including years leading the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit and investigating cases with INTERPOL Accra, I have found that trafficking almost never announces itself. It arrives disguised as an opportunity.
It looks like a job offer that seems too good to pass up. A relative promising a 'better life' in the city, or abroad. A recruiter who pays for a girl's transport and simply asks her to 'pay it back' once she starts working. By the time a victim understands what has actually happened to her, she is often already far from home, without documents, and without anyone who knows where she is. That is the design of it. Trafficking is not a crime of chaos — it is a crime of careful deception.
Myth: It Always Involves Strangers and Physical Force
In the cases I have investigated — from the undercover operation that exposed a trafficking ring involving six Chinese nationals, to the rescue of dozens of Nigerian women in Ashaiman — the person who first opened the door to exploitation was, more often than not, someone the victim trusted. A family friend. A distant relative. A 'connection man' who promised travel documents. Trafficking is fundamentally a betrayal of trust before it becomes anything else.
Myth: Only Naive or Uneducated People Fall Victim
I have met victims who were sharp, capable, ambitious young women — women who simply found themselves in circumstances where an opportunity looked real enough to risk everything on. Poverty, family breakdown, and desperation for a future make almost anyone vulnerable at the right moment. During Operation TUY in Burkina Faso, we recovered 300 children from mining exploitation whose families had, in nearly every case, believed they were sending their children to something better.
What To Actually Watch For
- A young person suddenly withdrawn from school with a vague explanation involving 'work' or 'travel'
- Someone who cannot answer basic questions about themselves without an accompanying adult stepping in
- Visible exhaustion, fear, or malnourishment that doesn't match the story being told
- A person who has no access to their own identification documents or earnings
- Frequent, unexplained movement between houses, towns, or borders
What To Do With That Suspicion
Do not confront anyone directly. I cannot stress this enough — a well-meaning intervention can put a victim in far greater danger and can destroy months of quiet investigative work. What you can do is note details discreetly: descriptions, vehicle numbers, locations, times. Then report it — to the nearest police station, to the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit, or to a trusted NGO partner. Nearly every operation I have led, from Operation BIA II, which rescued 263 victims, to the rescue of 43 Nigerian girls in 2012, began exactly this way — with an ordinary person who noticed something and said something.
Trafficking survives on silence and on our collective willingness to look away because a situation seems 'complicated' or 'not our business.' Communities that stay alert, and that know exactly who to call, are the first line of defense — long before any officer ever arrives on the scene. This is also precisely where organisations, schools, and companies benefit from structured training rather than good intentions alone, which is a large part of the work I now do through consultancy.
