Challenging Heights, working with the Ghana Police Service and other state agencies, has rescued 47 Nigerian nationals in a police-led anti-human trafficking operation in Goaso in the Ahafo Region, leading to the arrest of five suspected traffickers.

The operation, conducted between 30 August and 2 September 2026, targeted six identified trafficking hotspots, all within mining communities.

Twenty-six of those rescued have so far been confirmed as victims of trafficking and handed over to Challenging Heights for transportation, care and reintegration support. At least 16 of the victims arebelieved to be between 15 and 18 years. 

Two suspects have been transferred to Police Headquarters in Accra, while three remain in custody at the Goaso Police Station. The operation also revealed that Ghanaians, particularly young women, are now being recruited into sexual exploitation in these mining communities alongside Nigerians.

Since 2025, Challenging Heights has supported the rescue of 230 Nigerian nationals through its operations: 81 in 2025, 102 in the first half of 2026 and 47 in the latest Goaso operation.

These cases involve children, adolescents and young adults, with women and girls particularly exposed to sexual exploitation. Challenging Heights is increasingly encountering human trafficking that begins with deception and the promise of opportunity and ends in modern slavery.

Young Nigerians are recruited with offers of employment in Ghana, including work in restaurants, shops, supermarkets, and other businesses.

Once in Ghana, these victims find themselves trapped in exploitation under traffickers they call ‘madam’. In cases involving sexual exploitation, survivors have reported being subjected to financial targets, debt bondage, threats, violence, isolation and other forms of coercion. Some are told they owe large sums to those who arranged their journey, a debt used to hold them in place until it is repaid.

Challenging Heights' findings point to TikTok in particular as a notorious recruitment avenue, with traffickers actively targeting unsuspecting girls on the platform.

The organisation has already highlighted the very disturbing trend from some Nigerian survivors concerning a suspected cross-border baby-harvesting and baby-selling operation.

Challenging Heights is therefore calling for:

• Stronger Ghana–Nigeria intelligence sharing and joint investigations to identify and dismantle trafficking networks.

• Closer monitoring of recruitment, migration and transportation channels, including social media platforms such as TikTok increasingly used to lure victims.

• Swift investigation and prosecution of traffickers and facilitators, including any public officials found to have enabled or protected trafficking activities.

• Stronger survivor protection and recovery systems, including shelter, healthcare, psychosocial support, repatriation and reintegration.

Challenging Heights commends the Ghana Police Service and the local authorities involved in the Goaso operation and remains committed to working with law enforcement, government institutions, communities and partners in Ghana and Nigeria to prevent human trafficking, support survivors and strengthen systems that protect vulnerable people.