15-yr-old sells 3-yr-old for N500 to Alfa for money ritual

A 15-year-old boy identified as Simon is now telling the police all he knows about the abduction of a three-year-old boy identified as Chiagozie who was kidnapped and sold for the sum of N500 to a Muslim cleric, usually called Alfa, for money ritual.

Mrs Chinasa Okereke, a mother of four children including Chiagozie revealed while recounting her story that on the day her son was kidnapped, she wanted to give three of her children a bath outside the house when he was abducted.

According to her, she had briefly stepped into the house to get a wrapper to strap her fourth child, a nine-month-old to her back but when she returned Chiagozie was nowhere to be found.

Mrs Chinasa said she asked her eight-year-old daughter the whereabouts of her little brother, but the girl said that Simon, who lives in the building next door had taken him away.

“When my daughter told me that Simon took Chiagozie, I immediately rushed to his house, but his guardians said they had been looking for him too. When it was getting late, we went to the police station to report that Simon took our son and that we couldn’t find him.

“Police took over the case and soon located and arrested Simon. He was taken to the station. Singing like a bird, he revealed how the Alfa came to pick him and Chiagozie with a car.

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“When detectives asked questions from residents of the community, they were told that they saw the Alfa driving off with Simon and Chiagozie,” she added.

Simon who was later arrested confessed to the police that an unidentified Alfa, now in police custody, asked him to supply a three-year-old child.

According to Simon, he brought Chiagozie to the Alfa, he was given N500 for his efforts but when the three-year-old was finally located by detectives from Isheri Police Station, he was already dead.

“The suspect led police to the scene where the Alfa took him and Chiagozie. The corpse of Chiagozie was found laid out on the ground. A big stone was beside his head and a red cloth tied round his neck.

“Asked how Chiagozie was killed, Simon said that he saw when the Alfa lifted Chiagozie mid-air and made some incantations before dropping him to the ground, Mrs Chinasa recalled in tears.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Fatai Owoseni, who confirmed the incident, alleged that the Alfa used the deceased for ritual while also informing that both suspects (Alfa and Simon) had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department (SCID), Panti, Yaba, for further investigations.

The CP also advised parents to be cautious and also be weary of the kind of people they keep their kids with.

“Parents should be proactive and know the kind of people they leave their kids with.

“Parents and guardians shouldn’t allow the economic situation in the country to affect their vigilance and care towards their kids,”Owoseni noted.

 

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