Jeff Joy, an established Nigerian prostitution ring leader, has been extradited to Italy to serve a 13-year jail term for offences bordering on “criminal conspiracy, enslavement, human trafficking and exploitation of prostitution”.
Joy, a 48-year-old fugitive, was on an Italian wanted list for some years after the Italian police investigation nailed her for perpetrating acts contravening the laws of the country.
According to a statement released by the Press Office of the Italian National Police on Wednesday, investigations into Joy’s crimes date back to 2007, when she oversaw cross-border prostitution business among Italy, the Netherlands and Spain.
“The investigations by the Ancona policemen date back to 2007 when the woman held an important role in the management of the prostitution business between Italy, the Netherlands and Spain, characterized by violence and threats also against the families of girls in Nigeria,” the statement read in part.
The police hinged her extradition on the provision of the extradition treaty between Nigeria and Italy, largely facilitated by a collaborative effort by the Department of State Services, the judiciary and the Italian ambassador in Nigeria.
“The criminal is one of the few women included in the list of 100 dangerous fugitives, drawn up by the integrated joint group for the search for fugitives of the Central Directorate of the Criminal Police,” the Italian police stated.
“His extradition represents the first provision under the extradition treaty between Italy and Nigeria, signed in 2020, and was possible thanks to the joint work of the Nigerian judiciary, the Italian ambassador in Nigeria and the Italian Ministry of Justice.
“Following an investigation by officials of the International Police Cooperation Service (SCIP) in the African country and the issuance of a red notice in 2010, the Department of State Services (DSS), the Nigerian intelligence service, managed to track down and arrest the woman on June 4, 2022, thanks also to the collaboration between the Italian immigration expert in Nigeria and the local police forces.”
The statement quoted Vittorio Rizzi, deputy chief of police, as saying, “Today Africa is confirmed as a strategic area for the search for fugitives and the fight against organized crime. Developing African countries also represent elective places for the laundering of the illicit capital of organised crime and Italy is committed at an international level to facilitate, through penal and administrative instruments, the tracing of the illicit assets of the mafias for their seizure and confiscate.”
An online newspaper explained that the conviction order against the criminal was passed by an Italian court in her absence.
She was responsible for receiving potential Nigerian victims upon their arrival in Italy and managing their operations as they settled in Italy.
Although street prostitution is lawful in Italy, the law forbids organised prostitution in the manner Joy had perpetrated it in the country.
