….As Police recover 4 children from syndicate
From Ebere Suzy Okoye
Residents of the commercial city of Onitsha, according to information available to 247ureports.com, captured another human trafficker, a woman and her syndicate who specialized in business of child theft, stealing children from Calabar, Cross Rivers State – to sell in Onitsha.
However, luck ran out of two members of the syndicate when they were apprehended by policemen attached to the Okpoko police division at the Akwa Ibom Park along Onitsha-Owerri road axis when a woman whose identity was concealed by the police was arrested for allegedly stealing two babies from Calabar – and sold them in the commercial city of Onitsha.
Also, another woman suspected to be member of a dangerous child trafficking syndicate that specialized in stealing children from their parents at Calabar and other parts of the South West Geopolitical zone was also arrested by operatives of the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, attached to Okpoko police Division at Calabar motor park, Onitsha-Owerri road.
247ureports.com gathered that the suspects who were undergoing interrogations at the Divisional Police Officers, DPO’s office [Mr. Emeka Ugwu] were arrested following a tip off by the some staff of the Akwa Ibom motor park and passersby who noticed the suspicious movements of the suspects which led to their arrests.
According to one of the eyewitnesses simply identified as Obinna, one of the suspects was a regular visitor to the park, adding that she always come to the park on weekly basis with different children after which she will return to Calabar leaving those children behind.
Obinna further disclosed that the one that attracted the interests of the workers was the day the suspect came into the park in a vehicle belonging to the Transport Company of Anambra State, TRACAS with a new born baby with stain of blood.
“The lady comes to the park almost every week, at times two weeks interval and we discovered that each time she appeared, she had two or three children mostly day old and one week old children. There was a day she carried a baby with stain of blood showing that the child was just delivered. So today (yesterday) she came in with TRACAS bus from Calabar and because we have been monitoring her, she had two children when she came; but when she finished her business, she resurfaced again to board a bus back to Calabar without those two kids, that was when we confirmed our suspicion and invited the police”
Obinna also disclosed that another thing that raised suspicion over the movement of the suspect included the fact that each time she visited Onitsha with different children under the ages of 2 years to one day old, she never went back with such children, a situation he said could not be unconnected to child trafficking.
Meanwhile, it was gathered that upon interrogation according to our police source who pleaded anonymity, the suspects who are citizens of Calabar confessed that they have been in the business of ferrying children from the area to Onitsha for some now, adding that the two children they came to sell in the commercial city of Onitsha were a baby boy of 1 month and a baby girl of 2 months whom they confessed they sold to their buyers at Umunya, Oyi council area of Anambra state.
