Nigerian-Australian Woman Arrested in Australia for Allegedly Trafficking PNG Students Into Forced Farm Labour

Binta Abubakar, a 56-year-old Nigerian-Australian woman, has been arrested by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) for allegedly luring students from Papua New Guinea (PNG) with false promises of educational scholarships, only to exploit them as unpaid labourers on farms across Queensland.

She was taken into custody on Wednesday at Brisbane Airport upon returning from Papua New Guinea, where she had primarily operated.

Abubakar’s arrest follows a two-year investigation by the AFP’s Northern Command Human Trafficking Team, which began probing her activities in July 2022 after a tip-off from Queensland Police.

According to the AFP, Abubakar allegedly used her company, BIN Educational Services and Consulting, to bring at least 15 PNG nationals—aged between 19 and 35—into Australia between March 2021 and July 2023. The company’s website claimed to offer a “holistic and modern approach to education, training, and employment,” but authorities say the reality was far more sinister.

Once in Australia, the students were allegedly forced to sign legal documents obligating them to repay vague costs related to tuition, airfare, visas, insurance, and legal fees. To cover these debts, they were made to work long hours—often 10 hours a day, seven days a week—on fruit farms in Queensland’s Lockyer Valley and Stanthorpe regions, often in breach of their visa conditions.

Police allege Abubakar collected the students’ wages herself and withheld them under the pretense of settling the so-called debts.

“The farmers did not know of Abubakar’s alleged scheme,” the AFP clarified.

The investigation also revealed that Abubakar allegedly used intimidation tactics to keep the students compliant, including threats to report them to immigration authorities or to harass their families back in PNG.

Abubakar now faces 31 criminal charges, including four counts of trafficking in persons, 14 counts of deceptive recruiting for labour or services, and 13 counts of engaging in conduct that resulted in debt bondage.

She has been granted conditional bail and is scheduled to appear in court on September 19.

AFP Detective Superintendent Adrian Telfer condemned the alleged exploitation, stating, “The AFP is committed to protecting vulnerable foreign workers who are targeted by those driven by greed and profits.”

He warned that victims of human trafficking are often lured with promises of free education or job opportunities, only to find themselves trapped and isolated in a foreign country.

“The AFP can help people who are exploited,” Telfer said. “We are focused on ensuring the welfare of victims.”

This case emerges just weeks after German authorities arrested 13 suspected members of a Nigerian mafia group involved in a separate human trafficking operation.