Metro
Eight stolen children, pregnant teenager rescued in Anambra
The Anambra State Police Command has rescued not less than eight children, including a 15-year-old pregnant teenager reportedly stolen at gunpoint from different parts of the country.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Haruna Mohammed, said members of a five-member gang child trafficking syndicate behind the crime had been arrested.
The suspects, according to the PPRO, are Joy Lazarus ,40, of 138 Urata area Aba, Abia State; Janet Gideon, 22, of 12 Irete Street, Owerri, Imo State; Gideon Godspower, 26, of Port Harcourt, River State; Wisdom Ndubuisi, 26, of Chokosho Village, Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and Chukwudima Nwogu, 29, of 138 Urata Area, Aba, Abia State.
According to Mohammed, a preliminary investigation revealed that the children, five boys and three girls, were stolen from Rivers, Bayelsa, Imo, Abia and Anambra states, adding that they were sold to a kingpin in Abia State.
Read also: Police arrests two suspected ‘one-chance’ robbers in Anambra
He said: “Following intelligence report, police detectives attached to Onitsha Area Command, in collaboration with the command’s State Intelligence Bureau, SIB, arrested five members of child stealing/trafficking syndicate.
“The suspects specialise in child-snatching, child stealing and trafficking from different parts of the country, especially South-East and South-South geopolitical zones.
“Upon interrogation, the suspects voluntarily confessed that they usually stole the children and brought them to their sponsor, one Mrs. Joy Lazarus of Urata in Abia State, who allegedly buys the children at the rate of between N200,000 and N400,000 depending on their age and gender.
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