The Ghana Police Service has picked up 18 people who are suspected of being part of a human trafficking ring selling young girls into Europe.

Joy News has learnt that one of the suspects has made a confession to the Criminal Investigations Department of the police about his role.

An expose by Ghana Journalist Association’s Journalist of the Year for 2006, Anas Aremeyaw Anas of the Crusading Guide newspaper, in Thursday’s issue of the paper, gives details of how young girls under the age of 18 are trafficked from other West African countries and sold for as much as 12,000 euros.

The trafficking barons based in Ghana are said to lure girls from Nigeria, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso and Togo with promises of finding them exciting and high-paying jobs.

Along with the growing incidence of Ghana as a transit point for the drug trade, there are also concerns that Ghana has gained notoriety and is fast becoming the major hub for human trafficking on a much larger scale.

Anas Aremeyaw Anas who uncovered the story says the girls are victims of prostitution and sometimes harvested for human organs, adding that the situation reflects the structural weakness of the country’s ports of entry and exit especially at the boarders and the airports.

DSP Kwesi Ofori of the Police Public Relations Directorate confirmed the arrests to Joy News and said those arrested are Ghanaians and other nationals.

He said the police suspected a wider ring and were still investigating to get to all those involved. He assured that findings of investigations would be made public.