The Abia State Police Command has arrested members of three suspected child trafficking syndicates, including 17-year-old Gift Daniel, who sold her two-day-old baby boy for N670, 000.
The Police Commissioner, Mr Anthony Ogbizi, said this on Monday, while briefing newsmen in Umuahia on the activities of the command.
Ogbizi also said that the command arrested no fewer than 22 other suspected criminals, following raids by his men in the wake of renewed criminal acts in different parts of the state.
Speaking to newsmen, Daniel said that she was compelled to sell the baby due to financial difficulties.
She said that her first baby was sold by her own mother after delivery, hence her resolve to personally sell the second baby.
“My mother sent me away from the house, when I became pregnant for the second baby and because of the financial difficulties, I started looking for somebody to help me.”
Daniel said that she was given N50,000 by the woman who brokered the transaction, 38-year-old Ngozi Nwaiwu, while the nurse, Kate Charles, who helped her during her delivery, got N30,000.
Nwaiwu, who also confirmed the sale to newsmen, said she was trying to help Daniel, considering her plight.
Also, one 22-year-old Blessing Chukwu, who sold her three-week-old baby girl, was arrested along with the alleged buyer, Chinasa Okpara.
Other alleged accomplices, Mrs Puphemia Omende and husband, Kelechi, a medical practitioner, were also arrested.
Police alleged that the couple facilitated the transaction at their hospital in Okigwe, where the baby was born.
Okpara said that she paid N360,000 for the baby and blamed her action on her 13-year-old fruitless marriage.
Chukwu said she already had four children out of wedlock. She said that she was given N190,000, for the three-week old baby, blaming her action on financial challenges.
They were arrested at the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia, where the baby had reportedly been on admission for the past three weeks.
The command also nabbed 23-year-old Rose Chukwu together with her relation, Joy Sunday, while allegedly attempting to kidnap a little boy at Uzuakoli in Bende Local Government Area.
The police said duo kidnapped the boy at Township Primary School, Uzuakoli, after school and replaced his uniform with another shirt. They were taking him away when someone alerted the police.
The suspects, however, denied the alleged kidnap attempt, saying that they saw the boy wandering and felt that he missed his way and decided to help him to find his way back home.
Ogbizi said that the suspects, who were paraded before newsmen, would be arraigned at the end of investigations.
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