Benin initially issued arrest warrants for the Etireno's Nigerian owner, captain and crew as well as for three Benin businessmen. U.N. officials in Cotonou earlier speculated that the captain could have thrown his human cargo overboard. It was not known if Onome, the captain on the ferry, was the captain listed in the warrant. Benin, a small country of 6 million people, has a history of slave trading. In the 18th and early 19th centuries, it was known as the Slave Coast for its role as a center of the trans-Atlantic trade.
Girls often end up as domestic workers or prostitutes.
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