By DEBORAH AKPEDE

Operatives of the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos State, have rescued five children after apprehending a suspected syndicate that specialises in child stealing and trafficking.

The Assistant Inspector General (AIG), of Police in charge of Zone 2, Mr Adegoke Fayoade, confirmed the development to journalists in Lagos on Monday.

Fayoade revealed that the rescued children, ages one to six comprised of four boys and a girl.

According to him, the zone, on Jan. 8, received an intelligence report on the activities of the child trafficking syndicate.

?The intelligence revealed that the syndicate specialises in buying and selling of new born babies, toddlers, as well as children of various ages.

?The syndicate is led by three persons comprising of one who supply the children, the other acting as a middle person and caregiver, while the third person is responsible for caring for the children before they are passed on to their prospective buyers.?

The AIG said that the team led by CSP Ngozi Braide rescued the children whose identities had been messed up by the traffickers.

He explained that the traffickers in their modus operandi always change their victims? identities as soon as the buying and selling was completed.

?The one-year-old boy was sold when he was one week old, and the buyer resold him to another couple who currently reside in Italy, but kept the boy in the care of the syndicate?s caregiver.

?The three-year-old boy was sold in 2021 for N500, 000, while another one-year old boy was sold by his biological mother in September 2024 to an unknown individual.

?The boy was sold at the rate of N1.5 million to someone who resides within Alausa in Ikeja but was eventually recovered on Jan. 28 in Owerri.

?The little boy was found in the care of a supposed a nanny who claimed to have been employed by her younger sister, who resides with her husband in California, USA.

?The supposed nanny who was arrested in Owerri also had in her custody the three-year-old girl, whom she claimed was brought to her as a new born baby by the same sister of hers in the USA,? Fayoade explained.

The police boss added that the six-year-old boy was however bought by the prime suspect, who claimed she bought the boy for N800,000 in Mbaise, Imo, when he was just one-week old.

Fayoade, who said that the syndicate had a strong network and hardly missed its targets, noted that the syndicate ran out of luck in its latest criminal operation. (NAN)

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