Nigerian star in slave-trade probe

Akpoborie has been told to clear up allegations

Nigerian star Jonathan Akpoborie has been suspended by his German club following allegations he is involved in the slave trade.

Akpoborie, who plays for VfL Wolfsburg, owns a ship which is supected of carrying child slaves.

Authorities in Benin found mostly economic migrants aboard the vessel, the MV Etireno, during a search on 17 April.

A non-governmental organisation - Terre des hommes - found that some of the unaccompanied children on board the ship said their parents had received money for them, the German magazine Focus has reported.

Ship hunt

Akpoborie's side, VfL Wolfsburg, announced their decision to suspend him in the wake of that discovery.

"In order to support efforts to clear up the matter, the player Jonathan Akpoborie will be released indefinitely from his contractual obligations and thus be available with his time to clear up the accusations," a club statement said.

The hunt for the ship grabbed world attention and highlighted a trade which Unicef, the UN children's agency, says involves 200,000 children a year in West and Central Africa.

Akpoborie, 32, has denied allegations of any wrongdoing raised in the German media.

The Nigerian international has played in Germany for ten years, and spent the last six with top-flight clubs, scoring well over 100 goals.