A Nigerian woman who led one of the most powerful emerging criminal organizations in the world, dedicated to the trafficking of women to exploit them in prostitution in Spain, the Netherlands and Italy, where she was a fugitive from Justice for more than a decade, has been arrested and extradited, the Italian national police reported today.
The long escape of Jeff Joy, 48 years old and one of the few women to appear on the list of the 100 most wanted criminals by Interpol since 2010, ended with his arrival in the last hours at Rome's Ciampino airport, after the approval of the extradition by the Nigerian Government on February 10.
Joy, sentenced to 13 years in prison in Italy for the crimes of criminal association, slavery, human trafficking, was "the greatest exponent of the Nigerian mafia, the so-called black mafia, which due to its dangerousness and the international network on which it operates is considered one of the most powerful emerging criminal organizations in the world," police said in a statement.
According to investigations carried out between 2006 and 2007 by the Ancona Mobile Brigade (center), Joy had "a prominent role in facilitating the arrival in Italy, the Netherlands and Spain of Nigerian girls who were initiated into the criminal business of prostitution with the use of violence and threats of all kinds, also extended to family members who remained in their country of origin".
After more than 12 years of searching, the woman was arrested on June 4, 2022 in Nigeria by the local intelligence services -Department of State Services (DSS)- in execution of the "red notice" issued by Italy, at the end of an intense search activity carried out also by Italian agents.
The extradition of the Nigerian fugitive represents a milestone in relations between Italy and Nigeria, being the first pilot case in the application of the Extradition Treaty that entered into force in 2020, the note indicates.
"Africa is confirmed today as a strategic area for the search for fugitives and the fight against organized crime. African developing countries are also places of choice for the laundering of illicit money by organized crime," he stressed on the sidelines of the operation the Prefect Vittorio Rizzi, Central Director of the Criminal Police, on which the operational international police cooperation depends.
