Suspected five members of child trafficking syndicate who were arrested by Delta State Police Command have spoken on how the idea was mooted by one of them in the guise of taking the toddler to a childless woman for upbringing.

The suspects were arrested after they had connived to steal a three-year-old toddler, Abubakar (surname withheld), from his mother, who is a neighbour, with the intention of selling him for N800,000.

They were identified as Suleiman Mohammed, aged 38; Mohammed Isah, 35; Ibrahim Sani, 23; Kabiru Ibrahim, 52; and Abubakar Mohammed, a 32-year-old cripple.

It was gathered that the child was taken to a hotel in Onitsha, Anambra State from Abraka in Asaba by one of the syndicate members, Suleiman, where he intended to hand him over to the buyer.

But the lid on their act was blown open when one of the syndicate members, known as Mati but currently at large, demanded N800,000 from the intended beneficiary. The demand, it was learnt, raised the woman’s suspicion that something was fishy, coupled with the absence of the toddler’s mother in the discussion on taking him over.

Speaking on how the victim was stolen before his rescue by the police, the command’s spokesman, DSP Bright Edafe, said that the child’s mother, Aisha Yusuf, of Abraka Community in Asaba, reported at ‘C’ Division on June 13 at about 8:30am, that her three-year-old son, Abubakar, was stolen by Isah.

“Acting on the complaint, the Commissioner of Police, Wale Abass, ordered the Divisional Police Officer, ‘C’ Division, Asaba, CSP Apu Torukeregha, to go all out to arrest the suspect and rescue the stolen child.

“In compliance with this directive, the DPO led operatives of the division’s anti-crime patrol team on a frantic search for the stolen child.

“Acting on a tip-off, the team stormed Abraka market Oshimili-South Local Government Area, where the principal suspect, Isah, was arrested.

“Upon interrogation, he confessed to the crime and led the operatives to arrest three other members of the syndicate…

“Preliminary investigation revealed that they belong to a child trafficking syndicate that steals children and sells for huge amount of money. The suspects led policemen to a hotel in Onitsha, Anambra State, where the team arrested one Suleiman Mohammed, aged 38, in whose custody the missing child was found.

“The suspect arrested in Anambra stated that he was waiting for the supposed buyer of the said child, and they had agreed to sell the child for N800,000,” the PPRO explained.

He said the child had been reunited with the mother, while the suspects had been taken into custody, adding that investigation was ongoing.

Narrating his involvement, Suleiman, who claimed to be married to three wives with whom he has eight children, said: “I am from Niger State but live in Abia State at Umueze Village. I’m used to the South East and I sell tomatoes and travel back and forth to do the business.

“I used to live with my uncle in Niger State, so I know about being a herbalist a little bit. I used to give people herbs. I was in Anambra State about four, five years ago, but left for Niger State before I returned early this year to stay with one of my wives in Abia State after I did some things for her family as bride price.

“I had known Chigozie, the woman who wanted a child, a long time ago when I was in Anambra. Someone gave her my number so she used to come to me.

“Some months ago, she called and told me she had a problem. I asked what it was and she said she had been unable to conceive since she got married. I told her it was an infection and gave her herbal medicine remedy. She did not call me for weeks but I later learnt that she went to other herbalists and she was told the same thing I diagnosed her with.

“After I brought tomatoes to Anambra to sell, I went to Abia, and after about two weeks, she called me and said she had a problem with her husband who was not happy that she couldn’t conceive, asking me to help her as she needed a child to be with her. I advised her to go to motherless babies’ homes for adoption but she replied that she had moved around but the amount being demanded was too high. Then I told her that I would let her know whenever I saw any.

“As I came to Abraka in Asaba, Delta State to buy medicine, she called me and pleaded with me again to help her get a child. I told her I had yet to get anyone. My friend who was sitting, beside me, Isah, heard the conversation and told me that he knew a woman who has a child.

He said the lovers wanted to return to the north without the child because they were ashamed of having a baby outside wedlock. I called Chigozie and asked her if she was interested in the child. She said it was okay, promising to take care of the child. She said I should talk to the child’s parents so that they would all go to the police for formal custody of the child.

“I told my friend and he called the child’s father to intimate him of the discussion with Chigozie. The father agreed and said he would tell the mother. Later, I was called by my friend that the couple had accepted and asked me to call Chigozie so that they would meet one another. When I told Chigozie, she told us to stop at a police station but I told her I would not be able to do that at the time. The child’s father, Mati, then brought him to me. I asked him of the wife and he said she was still coming. I told him the woman who needed the child would not agree to that but he didn’t believe me. He said I should give him the woman’s number to call her himself. I did and when he called Chigozie, she told him to call the wife. The father asked her how much she wanted to pay for the child but she asked him not to talk about money yet. However, the father said she had to pay N800,000. That was how Chigozie called me and said that she believed the child was not the man’s own as he was talking about money in the absence of the mother.

“I told the father in Hausa language what the woman said and told him to bring his wife. I was with the son then. The next morning, some people came in a vehicle. Thinking that it was his wife he came with, I was surprised when I was told that she was not his wife as claimed, but the mother of the child that was stolen. The man immediately ran away. That was how I was arrested.”

It was learnt that the child’s mother told the police that the man who stole her child was just her lover whom she had been dating for long to the point that her son used to call him ‘father’ in Hausa language. It was revealed that the man who impregnated the lady lives in the north, and that the mother allegedly had about three lovers in the same house for survival.

“It was when the incident occurred that I was told that she was dating three men in the same compound and would leave her son for the most current one anytime she was not around,” Suleiman added.

Telling his side of the story, Isah, from Adamawa State but born and brought up in Asaba, said: “I was a driver but started escorting vehicles from the north with drivers who are unfamiliar with South East/South South roads. I’ve known Suleiman for so long in Abraka. He had shop where he was selling clothes. He came to Flyover area, making a call. He told me he had a woman who told him that she needed a child as she could not conceive. I told him there was a young man, Mati, befriending a lady in Abraka, and they were together with a boy child, Abubakar, about three years old. I asked him to talk to them so that they would discuss the issue about giving the child to the woman who needed him.”

When asked whether Mati was the child’s father, Isah answered in the negative, but added that Suleiman didn’t tell him the childless woman wanted to buy the toddler but just wanted to bring him up like she would do to her own.

Continuing, Isah said: “Our leader, Meangwa, called me to his palace and asked me what happened as the toddler was missing from his mother’s abode. I narrated what Suleiman told me and he was called. He said he was in Onitsha. He was traced to the place, arrested and brought to Asaba. Mati has run away. He is an Arabo from Lafia, Nasarawa State.”

Another suspect, Sani, from Kaduna State, spoke thus: “I’m a security man and was controlling three gates where I work. I live in the same compound with the woman whose child was stolen. I was sent on an errand by someone senior to me in age to another gate to get something for him. It was while I was away that the child was taken away. When I came back, the mother, who also just returned, started asking for her son. She started crying. We started looking for the boy throughout the night, even in the rain. I called the nearest police station and they referred me to another Division. We saw the child in Onitsha the following day after it was discovered during the night that he was picked by Mati.”

To this, Isah interrupted: “I told you the lady was dating three men in the compound. Ibrahim is one of the lady’s boyfriends. Mati who ran away is the second, while the third one is the cripple. She told us that she gave birth to the child in Taraba.

“Any day that one of them did not have money to give her, she would avoid him. When we were discussing the issue that a woman needed a child and I was connecting Suleiman with Mati, Ibrahim was present. It was under a tree where everyone used to sit.

“The child’s mother, Aisha, usually took Nkpuru Nmiri (an illicit drug). Mati also used to take. The woman used to be high.”

It was learnt that the syndicate took advantage of the time the woman was high after taking Nkpuru Nmiri and didn’t know what was happening around her. It was when she came to her normal self, it was gathered, that she discovered that her son was missing and went to report at the police station. (Nigerian Tribune)

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