Police arrests child trafficking kingpin in Anambra

The Anambra State police command on Tuesday confirmed the arrest of a child trafficking kingpin, Nkechi Odinye, in the state.

The command’s spokesman, Haruna Mohammed, who disclosed this in a statement, said the command also received 11 unclaimed children suspected to have been stolen in Gombe in October last year.

He said the children which include seven boys and four girls had been handed over to the Anambra State Ministry for Social Welfare, Women’s and Children’s Affairs pending when their parents would come to retrieve them.

Haruna said: ”Upon interrogation by the police in Gombe State, the suspects voluntarily confessed that they usually steal the children and bring to their sponsor, one Mrs. Nkechi Odinye, here in Anambra State, who buys each child at the rate of between N200,000 and N400,000 depending on their age bracket and gender.

Read also: Police arrests female pastor, five others for alleged child trafficking in Akwa Ibom

“Following voluntary confession by the suspects and while acting on a tip-off, police detectives attached to 3-3 Division, in Collaboration with operatives attached to the Command’s Special Anti-Cult Section (SPACS), stormed the hideout of the principal suspect, one Mrs. Nkechi Odinye, ‘f’, aged 55 years, and effected her arrest at Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.

“The suspect had hitherto evaded arrest for over three years by changing locations until her arrest. The team equally recovered sixteen other children of various age brackets, comprising 10 boys and six girls, reasonably suspected to have been stolen from different parts of the country under her custody.

“Both the suspect and the found children were handed over to the Gombe State Police Command where four of the children were identified and reunited with their biological parents after exhaustive investigation and forensic analysis, including DNA tests. Also one of them was handed over to the parents in Asaba, Delta State.”

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