ISOLA CAPO RIZZUTO-  Agrigento Police have arrested John Ogais, a 25 year-old Nigerian suspected of being a member of a criminal organisation responsible for running human-trafficking operations from Libya and Sicily. Ogais also faces allegations of kidnapping, sexual violence, aggravated homicide and aiding and abetting clandestine immigration, local police said Tuesday.

 The operation behind his arrest was spearheaded by the Agrigento and Crotone rapid response teams, in collaboration with the Public Prosecution of Palermo.

 Ogais is also thought to have been involved in the torturing of migrants at the prison of ‘Ali the Libyan,’ a place in which migrants waiting to depart for Italy from Libya were held before their departure. The Nigerian is also an accomplice to the crimes of Sam Eric Ackom, a Ghanaian from the same criminal organisation arrested by the Agrigento rapid response team last March.

 Details about Ogais, who is also known as Rambo, were accumulated from a number of testimonies from migrants who had witnessed the Nigerian’s actions first-hand.

 “During my time on the inside of that ‘ghetto’, from which it was impossible to leave, I heard that the man who they used to call ‘Rambo’ had killed a migrant. I know that my cousin and others tried to escape but they were caught and then nearly at death’s door, due to the torturing that they had to endure,” said one of the anonymous victims of John Ogais’ actions.

 “I personally witnessed him (Rambo) beat to death two people, a young Nigerian and another Nigerian killed by Rambo in front of his brother. In the exact moment of the killing, Rambo was threatening the brother of the victim with his pistol, telling him to say nothing to his family and to make them send the money immediately,” recounts another of the testimonies against Orais.

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