The Abia State Police Command, Friday paraded a suspected child trafficker identified as Roland Egbe.
Egbe, upon interrogation reportedly confessed that he bought fried yam to attract the two kids he allegedly stole from their parents.
The suspect, who claimed to be a ticket seller at Oyigbo in Rivers State, said he handed the children over to his friend identified only as Uche, who in turns sold them to one Chioma Ohajimadu and Mrs. Comfort Ogbonnaya who reside at No. 69, Ososu road, Aba.
In his confession before newsmen while being paraded at the police officers mess in Umuahia, the state capital, Egbe said, “Uche introduced me to child trafficking business and persuaded me to get a child urgently as a buyer was already waiting to pay for the child.
“One evening, about two weeks ago, I went to eat at Oyigbo roundabout, Uche started calling me repeatedly to get the child he told me to bring but I told him that I know the parents of the child I wanted to bring to him and I don’t want to hurt them.
“He insisted that I should bring the child, so after speaking with him, I asked him to come around and wait for me. Then I went to where the children normally gather to play around the area because the little boy, Marvellous Heart, normally comes to me each time I am around his mother’s shop.
“When he saw me that evening, he ran to me and l bought sweets for him; from there, I carried him and met Uche, who was waiting for me at a distance. That was how we took the boy to Aba. He gave me N50,000 only and promised to pay me the balance later.
“But after some days, the woman that bought the boy started calling me to complain that she doesn’t want the boy again, that we should bring another child for her. That was how Uche forced me to go and steal another child for the woman.
“The second time, I saw some children around a spot where they sell fried yam around Imo River and bought some fried yam for them. When I was leaving, I left with one of them.”
Parading the suspects, the state Commissioner of Police, CP, Adeleye Oyebade, said “Egbe was earlier arrested and paraded for child trafficking on December 7, 2016, before the operatives attached to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad at Obehie rescued the four-year-old Heart stolen about two weeks ago.
The CP warned parents to monitor their children closely and warn them to stop accepting gifts from strangers and people around them this Christmas period.
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