The High Court has ordered the extradition to the Netherlands of a man for allegedly trafficking children from Africa to Europe, where they are used as prostitutes.
The Dutch authorities had sought the extradition of 38-year- old Jackson Smith, also known as Peter Kwame Sarfo, also known as "the chairman", in connection with the alleged trafficking of children from Nigeria into both Spain and Italy.
The man opposed the application and now has 21 days to appeal the extradition order to the Supreme Court.
At the High Court yesterday, Mr Justice Michael Peart said he was satisfied the man before the court was the person whose extradition was being sought and that the order should be made. He put a stay on that order as Sarfo is currently serving a sentence for a domestic offence and is not due to be released until later next month. Earlier, seeking the extradition, Patrick McGrath, for the State, said the Dutch authorities had claimed that Sarfo, acting as the head of a criminal organisation, was involved from January 2005 to October 2007 in the sexual exploitation of children and in people trafficking at "a national and international level".
He said the Dutch authorities contended Sarfo had arranged for girls from Nigeria to travel to the Netherlands. When there, they would seek asylum and, because they were minors, they would be put into the care of a guardian.
In the Netherlands, Sarfo and others would arrange for the girls to abscond from where they were supposed to be residing and some girls ended up as prostitutes in Spain and Italy. Sarfo was also wanted for alleged money laundering and forging travel documentation, counsel said.
In relation to the identification of Sarfo, Mr McGrath said there was a lot of evidence that the person being sought by the Dutch authorities was the person before the court.
Sarfo was detained in Ireland last September in relation to a forged Ghanaian passport. There was evidence from a member of the Garda who had prosecuted Peter Sarfo at Drogheda District Court for road traffic offences in 2006.
Sarfo had also been identified as a person known as "Peter" by another person who was detained by the Dutch police in their investigation, counsel added.
It was also claimed that information on a Sim card taken from Sarfo's phone when he was detained in Ireland last September had linked him to a number of others detained in the investigation carried out by the Dutch police into alleged trafficking of children for prostitution.
In opposing the extradition, Anthony Collins SC, for Sarfo, said there was an absence of specifics in the warrant for his client's extradition. A decision had not been taken to charge his client with the offences in respect of which his surrender was being sought, counsel added.
In an affidavit, the man said he was Jackson Smith, a native of Sierra Leone. He said he had gone to the UK in the late 1990s, had worked in a number of different jobs there and had not left that country between 1999 and 2006.
The High Court had previously heard that, following his arrest by gardaí last September, the man denied that he was either Peter Kwame Sarfo or Jackson Smith. However, he subsequently told gardaí: "I am Jackson Smith," the court was told.
After the charges contained in the warrant seeking his extradition were put to him, he told gardaí: "I know nothing about this." He had also said: "This is not what I am wanted for."