Mother And Father Sell 2months Old Baby For N400,000
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By Austin Echefu
The Imo State Police Command has arrested a syndicate of child traffickers, including a mother and father of five kids, Mr. Ifeanyi Elijah and Mrs Immaculate Elijah, who hail from Isiala Ngwa Local Government Area of Abia State, for trafficking their new born baby.
The gang of child traffickers paraded by the police on Monday in Owerri included Mr. Ifeanyi Elijah, from Isiala Ngwa North in Abia State, who is about 35 years old and father of five kids, with his wife, Mrs. Immaculate Elijah, who was said to have conspired with her husband to sell their newly born baby girl of about two months old to one Mrs. Amarachi Dibiaelu Obiekwe, 49 years old, from Osina in Ideato North LGA of Imo State.
Other suspects are two others: Mrs. Grace Mmezi, from Umuoba Uratta in Owerri North LGA, and Mrs. Fidelia Ariri, 55 years old, also from Umuoba Uratta in Owerri North area of Imo State.
The baby has been recovered by the police. But Mr. Elijah, the father of the two months old baby girl, admitted committing the crime, saying that he sold his baby due to hunger.
“Yes, I sold my baby for the sum of N400,000, only because of hunger and difficulties.
“I am a jobless car driver and I can no longer feed or pay my children’s school fees and as such I decided to sell my last child”, he confessed, even as he pleaded for forgiveness.
However, the baby buyer, Mrs. Amarachi Obiekwe, agreed that she bought the baby from both parents at the sum of N400,000, adding that she needed a little child as grand child who would take care of her at her old age.
She added that she has only two grown up children who are staying with her at the moment.
The mother of the baby, Mrs. Immaculate Elijah, however, said that after successfully delivering her child at home on January 27, 2018, at about 5pm, her husband and two other unknown men took away her baby while she went to the rest room to clean up, saying that the disappearance of her baby was what led to her raising the alarm that attracted people from her neighbourhood.
She said that Madam Grace and her husband had been requesting her to sell the baby but she refused.
Meanwhile, the Imo Command Police Public Relation Officer, Andrew Enwerem, said that he learnt that the mother of the recovered baby girl allegedly conspired with her husband to dispose their last child for the sum of N400,000.