Detectives from the Ondo State Police Command have bust a gang which specialises in the kidnapping and sale of minors to willing buyers at the sum of N1m each, under the guise of operating an orphanage in Anambra state.

The State Commissioner of Police, Wilfred Afolabi, who disclosed this in Akure, the state capital, said the minors between the ages of one week and seven years were rescued from the orphanage in Ihiala in Anambra state.

The Police boss who unveiled the three-person gang said the suspects include a couple, Lukman and Abosede Olanipekun and Mrs Sabira Izuorah, who runs the orphanage home and sells off the harvested babies at the rate of N1 million each.

According to the CP, some of the 14 minors were rescued from the illegal orphanage while others were in their adoptive homes after a case of missing baby was reported at Okuta Elerinla police division in Akure.

He said the investigation into the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the little boy led to the arrest of the syndicate and the operator of the illegal orphanage in Anambra.

Afolabi said ?A complainant reported that a man, Samuel Adejobi whose real name is Lukman Isiaka and a woman, Ewatomi whose real name is Abosede Olanipekun, came to a shop pretending to be siblings to eat.

?But while playing with the complainant?s child, Abosede deceived her by claiming she wanted to buy biscuits for the baby.

?Lukman distracted the complainant by engaging her in a personal conversation and requested she follow her to Olukayode plaza in the market to get a mobile phone, on getting to the market area, he abandoned her and left.

?On getting back to the shop, the complainant discovered that her child was missing with no trace of Abosede the supposed sister of the man she followed to the market, thus a report was made at the Division.

?Through intelligence-led policing, the suspects were traced to Ottah Village in Edo State, where they were arrested. During interrogation, the suspects admitted to abducting the child and other children from Ondo and Osun States and selling them to one Sabira Izuorah from Ihiala, Anambra State, at the rate of one million naira (?1,000,000) per child.

?Subsequently, Sabina was arrested in Ihiala and the following babies were found in her custody: Baby Favour (female, 3 weeks old) Baby Chidera (female, 2 weeks old), Baby Chinyere (female, 2 months and 5 days old), Baby Uzoma (male, 1 week old)

?Also, on the 14th of January 2025, some ten children sold by Mrs. Izuorah were rescued from various locations, and the following were identified by their parents: Dauda Alarape (male, 3? years), Babalola David (male, 4 years), Asaolu Pamilerin, seven years, Ayomide Abass (male, 2 years, stolen from Orita-Obele, Akure)

?Others include, Komolafe Oluwasekemi (female, 4 years, stolen from Igado, Ilesha) Adedeji Olalekan (male, 6? years), Ahmed Abdulrasaq (male, 5? years, stolen from Ibodi Town, Osun State), Mary Wuraola (female, 2 years, stolen from Ilesha, Osun State), Mubarak Akinwunmi (male, 6 years, stolen from Osogbo, Osun State) and an unknown child (name/parents yet to be identified, stolen from Osun State) while some children are currently on the missing list while efforts are ongoing to locate and rescue them?

While confessing, the 36-year-old bricklayer, Lukman, confessed to stealing and sales of 11 children to Izuorah and said ?I started this business of child stealing in 2023 and I have sold 11 children to this woman.

?I usually lure the kids with biscuits and drink and after that we will stop the motorcycle and take them out of town to Anambra state to this woman?s house and our reward is N500,000 per child.?

He said he met the operator of the orphanage ?I was in Anambra for bricklaying work and after I finished working in a particular place, I was introduced to her and worked in her house for about four days where she told me if we see any baby she will be ready to buy from us and explained to us how to operate and lure baby to our side. We have been operating in Osun before now.

Izuorah who claimed to have retired as a Director in the Ministry of Women and Children affairs, said ?These children were picked from my place, and I have a registered orphanage.

?I take care of children and even all these small ones (less than a week kids) their parents usually leave them in my custody pending the time they will take them back.?

The men usually claim that they are abandoned children and I keep them and give them to any family that needs the children, they will come with documents and after documentation, the children will be released to them and whatever they give, they give to the man and I don?t know much about it?

She denied buying and selling off the children but said ?I go through the normal process of adoption of Anambra state on adoption and I started operation in 2020 and I have recovered all the children the man brought to me, about 11 children.

?I don?t normally pay the man, it is the adoptive parents that pay them and my commission is what adoptive parents give me which is used to take care of other children in the home.

?I stopped the man in November after bringing 11 children and all of them had been given out before we were arrested by the police and I just recovered then from their adoptive parents. I don?t sell babies but they were all adopted and the adoption did not start with me and will not end with me,? she said.

The Police Commissioner, however, said the three suspects would be charged in court upon completion of the investigation. (Sunday Tribune)

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