'Dem put gun for my grandma throat' - How dem carry children comot dia home sake of false trafficking claims

Few minutes afta midnight, on 6 September, 2022, Musah Mustafa come out from one thatched-roof hut to piss na wen im see four cars wey dey speed towards im tiny village.

Mogyigna no really dey big like village. Na just small family homes and twenty-four pipo in total.

E resemble dot in di middle of a big farmland in northern Ghana. Cars no be wetin you go see during the day, talkess of night.

Musah hide for back of tree dey look. Wen im see see armed men from di cars dey waka go near two homes, im shout as im dey try to wake di oda pipo wey dey live dia.

But before anybody fit do anytin, di men enta di huts and carry four children by force.

Dem carry 11-year-old girl called Fatima for her arms and legs from di room wia she bin dey sleep with her grandparents.

Dem point gun for her neck, Fatima grandmother Sana bin dey beg di men. She no understand why dem dey carry her children.

Dem also carry two of di children uncles. Sana fear say she fit no see her relatives again.

For di eyes of Mogyigna's villagers, violent kidnapping don happun.

But dis no be kidnapping.

Officially, na rescue operation wey out Ghanaian police officers do, under Ghana's Human Trafficking Act.

Di police transfer di children into di care of social services.

Na one U.S based charity, International Justice Mission (IJM)dey behind di operation.

With around $100m (£78m) wey dem dey get in funding evri year, over di past two years, IJM NA One of di world's leading anti-trafficking organisations.

For di UK, IJM say dem fit count on di support of nearly 300 churches, and more dan £220,000 ($280,000) na im dem raise last year from churches and oda donors by IJM UK to support activities for Ghana.

But according to an investigation by BBC Africa Eye, IJM don remove some children from dia families for cases wia evidence -of-no trafficking dey or e dey scarce to see evidence of trafficking.

According to our reporting, dis aggressive style fit dey fuelled by a target-driven culture inside IJM.

We find two documented cases of rescue operations wia dem carry children by force, traumatically and unjustly remove di children from dia relatives wey dem dey prosecute as child traffickers. One of di cases concern Fatima.

For Ghana, IJM dey focus on rescuing children wey dem don traffick to work as slave labourers on Lake Volta, one of di world's largest man-made lakes.

About 300,000 pipo depend on di lake for dia livelihoods, and children work for di local fishing industry under different degrees of exploitation: some support dia families for fishing, while dem hire odas to work under boat masters for little or no pay.

Na small independent data on how serious di child-trafficking problem be on Lake Volta.

One 2016 study by IJM show say more dan half of all di children wey dey work on di lake na victims of trafficking.

For 2015, di charity start to rescue children wey dem see inside canoes for di lake, but for 2018 dem switch to night raids of on-shore locations wia dem suspect say dem dey keep children overnight.

Di raid dat night for di village of Mogyigna na one of such mission. Dem name am 'Operation Hilltop'.

Africa Eye start to investigate IJM afta becoming aware of concerns over dia work for Ghana.

Dem put an undercover reporter as staff of di charity.

As Operation Hilltop begin unfold, we dey able to monitor wetin staff dey tell each oda for one IJM WhatsApp group. We also get access to social services' documents wey relate to di case, wey give Africa Eye beta insight into di planning, execution and aftermath of di rescue mission of IJM.

Dat evidence show say while IJM dey tell dia partners for both di police force and social services say di four children na victims of trafficking , internally di charity don reach a different conclusion.

One IJM legal officer inside one internal message wey dem send afta di raid tok say di charity don already concluded say "no elements of trafficking" dey for di case of Fatima and two of di oda children wey dem carry for night from Mogyigna.

Only one of di four cases, Fatima's cousin Mohammed, na im get elements of trafficking, according to di legal officer - Mohammed family na agree with dis conclusion.

But di mission to remove all four children, wey dey between five and 11 years, go ahead anyway because IJM conclude say di children dey at risk of being used for child labour, di issue wey be say, even though e dey serious, no suppose get dat kind of aggressive raid.

Di internal messages tok say di children bin no dey go school and dem dey "work between di hours di law states say bmake dem no work, and dem no dey get good health, because of dis dem need to rescue dem [as dem dey] use dem di purposes of child labour".

Dem keep Fatima and di oda three children for IJM-partner shelter, wia dem dey separated from dia relatives for more dan four months, before one investigation by Ghanaian social services conclude say dem neva traffick di children before and make dem carry dem go back to dia families.

Fatima don go back to di village, she dey under di care of her grandmother Sana, while Mohammed father decide make di boy go live for anoda place, as di father of di oda two children do.

Wen Africa Eye visit Mogyigna, five months afta di rescue, villagers tell us say dem dey happy say di children don come back but dem add say dem dey still feel di after-effects of Operation Hilltop.

Fatima say she bin dey fear say di BBC team come to take her away again.

"I bin fear well-well and I start to cry," na wetin di 11-year-old tok about di night of Operation Hilltop.

"I tink say dem dey carry us to go kill us. We bin no know wia dem dey carry us go."

While se bin dey stay for di shelter she tink say her "grandmother, grandfather, and uncles don die".

"Wen dem carry me comot, I cry well well wen I dey tink about my family," she add.

Dem arrest Fatima uncles, Nantogma Abukari and Sayibu Alhassan, during di operation.

Dem carry dem go court on charges of child trafficking and child labour, dis make dem spend all da savings to attend court and bail hearings. Evri return trip to court cost dem more dan 1,500 Ghana cedis ($132; £104) for travel - di equivalent of almost two months' work.

To face di law na essential part of IJM anti-slavery model, as di charity argue say e dey serve as warning.

Court documents show say one IJM lawyer represent di state prosecutor for one of di court hearings.

Dem eventually drop di uncles case and also clear dia names, but di uncles tok say e still dey follow dem, sake of say some members of dia family no dey tok to dem again, sake of suspicion say dem "collabo" in some way "with di pipo wey carry di children comot".

Wen dem dey responding to BBC inquiries about Fatima case, IJM maintain dia mission don successfully relocate di four children with dia fathers to a safer location.

During Africa Eye investigation into Operation Hilltop, anoda problematic rescue come to our attention. One 2019 operation bin remove a boy and im siblings from dia family.

Dis operation bin lead to di arrest of di children mother, Mawusi Amlade, dem sentence her to five years in prison for child trafficking.

Ms Amlade tok say di most painful aspect of prison, na wen dem bin separate her from her children, and she bin no dey sure about wetin bin happun to dem.

"I no get any idea wia dem carry my children go, I continue to think about dem, more dan any oda tin," she tell Africa Eye.

Two years later, for one surprising turn of events, one US NGO quash Ms Amlade conviction afta an intervention - di Sudreau Global Justice Institute - wey be partner of IJM.

Sudreau no only free Ms Amlade thru an appeal process, but also advertise her case for one fundraising campaign as a miscarriage of justice.

For one Instagram post wey dem later delete, Sudreau's official account describe Ms Amlade as a "mother of two wey dem falsely convict of a serious crime".

Four years afta, Ms Amlade neva still reunit with her children.

Sudreau tell di BBC say dem act independently from IJM, eve though dem be partners, and conflict of interest bin no dey.

For one statement, IJM say" dem no dey decide weda a possible child trafficking case dey pursued or weda any individual dey arrested or prosecuted with offences".

Di undercover Africa Eye reporter join several conversations wey fit help explain wetin dey go wrong for a charity, wey dia mission na to help di poor.

For one conversation wey dem feem secretly with one senior IJM staff member, dem tell di reporter say IJM staff bin need to rescue a set number of victims and secure a set number of prosecutions every year.

Anoda staff member tok say dem no dey increase di salaries or dem dey at risk of being sacked if dem no reach dia targets.

For anoda separate conversation, di reporter ask an IJM investigator wetin go happun if staff on a mission dey unable to take di children away.

"We no go fit tok say we no fit get even one , we need to get some," di staff member reply.

Dr Sam Okyere, a senior lecturer from di University of Bristol wey bin work on Lake Volta conducting field research into child rescue operations, review di secretly recorded conversations and expressed concerns about di apparent target-driven culture.

Im tell di BBC say jobs for IJM dey pay well-well and man pipo dey find jobs for dia.

"Di fear to lose a position wey pipo dey find go mean say pipo fit go di extra mile to meet di targets," Dr Okyere tok.