About 11 suspects who specialize in stealing and selling children across the country, were paraded on Wednesday by the Benue State Command of the Department of State Services, DSS, in collaboration with the State Security Council.
The kidnappers and child traffickers included one Adejo Ogiri alias Okala, Affonne Nwokocha, from Umuahia South Local Government Area of Abia State, Ezekiel and his wife, Amarachi.
While Nwokocha confessed to facilitating the buying and selling of children, Okala confessed to newsmen he had kidnapped four children and handed them over to one Ezekiel, a bus driver from Imo State.
Adejo said, “Each time I kidnapped children from any part of the state, I usually took them to Ezekiel who in turn, would hand them over to his wife, Amarachi, who specialised in receiving stolen children for the purposes I don’t know.
“I was paid N1m naira for kidnapping little Miracle Jacob. But it led to the bursting of the syndicate,” he added.
While the DSS also paraded the victims – Emmanuel Abedi, Favor Oleka, James Adanu and Joseph Aboje who had been in the hold of the kidnappers and traffickers for a while, the state governor, Samuel Ortom said Okala was the kingpin.
According to Ortom, the final payment of N700, 000 made by one Augustine Basil for Jacob was deposited in Nwokocha’s Keystone Bank account No: 6006236465.
“The the suspect also confessed to have facilitated the adoption of a child for one Henry Ndukwe in 2013, for the sum of N500, 000,” Ortom said, adding that the State Security Council and the DSS were working with the Benue State office of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, to further investigate and prosecute the syndicate.
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