Operatives of Ondo State police command have arrested three suspects for allegedly kidnapping and trafficking 14 children.
Gatekeepers News reports that Wilfred Afolabi, commissioner of police disclosed this to journalists in Akure, Ondo state capital on Saturday.
The CP noted that the rescued children were between the ages of one week and seven years.
The arrests of the suspects identified as Lukman Isiaka, 42; Abosede Olanipekun; and Sabira Izuorah, 62, followed a report by a mother whose 18-month-old child was abducted in Akure.
Afolabi said, “A case of a missing child was reported at Okuta Elerin-NIa division in Akure. A complainant reported that a man, Samuel Adejobi (real name: Lukman Isiaka, m age, 42 years), and a woman, Ewatomi (real name: Abosede Olanipekun), came to her shop pretending to be siblings to eat.”
“While playing with the complainant’s child, Abosede deceived her by claiming she wanted to buy biscuits for the baby. Meanwhile, Lukman distracted the complainant by engaging her in a personal conversation and requested she followed him to Olukayode Plaza in the market to get a mobile phone.”
“On getting to the market area, he abandoned her and left. On getting back to the shop, the complainant discovered that her child was missing with no trace of Abosede the supposed sister of the man she followed to the market, thus a report was made at the division.”
The CP noted that investigations led the police to Ottah Village in Edo state, where Isiaka and Olanipekun were apprehended. During interrogation, the suspects confessed to abducting children from Ondo and Osun states and selling them to one Sabira Izuorah in Ihiala, Anambra state, for N1 million per child.
Subsequently, Izuorah was arrested in Ihiala, and four infants were recovered from her residence. The rescued babies were identified as Baby Favour, three weeks old; Baby Chidera, two weeks old; Baby Chinyere, two months and five days old; and Baby Uzoma, one week old.
Afolabi noted that on January 14, ten children sold by Izuorah were rescued from various locations, adding that they have been reunited with their families.
He said some children remain unaccounted for and assured that efforts are ongoing to locate and rescue them.
