In Kaduna, Nigeria where more than 300 boys and men, some as young as five and many in chains and bearing scars from beatings, have been rescued in a raid on a building that purported to be an Islamic school in northern Nigeria, police said on Friday.
Reuters reported that most of the freed captives seen by a local reporter in the city of Kaduna were children, aged up to their late teens. Some shuffled with their ankles manacled and others were chained by their legs to large metal wheels to prevent escape.
As it was seen in a video posted by Reuters, one boy, held by the hand by a police officer as he walked unsteadily, had sores visible on his back that appeared consistent with injuries inflicted by a whip.
Few children had been brought from neighboring countries including Burkina Faso, Mali, and Ghana, police said, while others had been left by their parents in what they believed to be an Islamic school or rehabilitation center.
Kaduna police spokesman Yakubu Sabo stated that seven people who said they were teachers at the school had been arrested in Thursday’s raid.
Furthermore, he added the state government is currently providing food to the children who are between the ages of five and above he said. However, it was not clear how long the captives had been held there.
