Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, ( NSCDC) Lagos State Command, have arrested  a self acclaimed pastor, identified as Abraham Roland, for allegedly running a human trafficking camp in the Mowe area of Ogun State.

According to reports, the NSCDC said the pastor allegedly hypnotised his victims, who were mostly admission seekers and students at higher institutions in Lagos, and took them to the camp.

He was also alleged to have sexually harassed some females among them.

It was learnt that many of the victims had spent between three and five years at the camp which Roland also used as a church and residence.

He reportedly struck relationships with the victims through a tutorial centre he ran at Kosofe, Lagos, where they respectively enrolled to prepare for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination.

Our correspondent learnt that in the course of the tutorial, Roland introduced the victims to a fellowship, which he later moved to his Mowe residence.

After some of the students gained admission, he was said to have lured them into the residence and brainwashed them into believing that their success was attainable through prayers rather than education.

He reportedly influenced two of the victims, who were students at the University of Lagos, Busayo Grilo and Tolu Daniel, to quit their studies at the institution.

Busayo’s elder brother, Goriola Grilo, told newsmen that it took a long time before the family discovered that she was being held at the camp.

He said the family suspected that Busayo had been hypnotised when she told them that she needed “clearance from the leader” each time she was asked to come home.

He said, “She went to a tutorial centre for students preparing to sit for UTME. That was sometime in 2013. All of a sudden, she told us that the coaching centre wanted to form a Christian fellowship. Giving the fact that we are Christians, the family allowed her. We felt it was better for her to combine academics with prayers.

“All of a sudden, she started talking about success camping, but our mother questioned the camping and warned her against it. After she got admission into UNILAG to study Guidance and Counselling, she started telling us about the success camp again.

“We did not know she had been brainwashed by the pastor. He carefully selected some intelligent members of the tutorial centre and turned them against their families and friends. It became very worrisome when my sister came home last year and said she had been rusticated from the school because she did not pass some courses. I was surprised because she is brilliant.