Policemen attached to Ilemba Hausa division in Lagos State have arrested a couple and two others who allegedly specialized in abducting children between ages one and four years and selling them to barren women and motherless homes in the eastern part of the country.
So far, about seven children reportedly stolen
from their parents' homes in Lagos and other
parts of the country have been recovered from
their new homes in Imo, Anambra and Delta
states.
One of the stolen children, Ezeaka Uchenna (4)
was picked from his parents' home, Madu Street,
Jakande Ojo, Ajagbadi area of Lagos by one of
the suspects, Adaeze Mba, on March 18, 2013 .
Adaeze who packed into same compound with
the Ezeakas in January 2013, was said to have
gone to purchase tapioca from Uchenna's
mother that fateful day, only to abscond with the
child. The couple immediately moved out of the
area and allegedly sold the child to a couple in
Obosi, Anambra State for N600,000.
However, during investigation, spokesman for
the Lagos State Police Command, Ngozi Braide,
while parading the suspects, yesterday, at the
Command's headquarters, Ikeja, said the
policemen acting on a tip-off stormed Ikot
Ekpene in Akwa Ibom State where the couple
were arrested.
"They confessed to have sold the child to one
Mrs Benedict at Asaba, Delta State. We
proceeded to Asaba where Mrs Benedict was
arrested. She made a confessional statement that
she buys and sells children to barren women and
that she had sold Uchenna to one Mrs Patricia at
Obosi in Anambra State.
"Investigation revealed that the couple had
earlier stolen Goodluck Amaechi (3) and
Promise Amaechi of same parents in Imo State
and sold to Mrs Benedict. Mrs Bendict confirmed
their statements and we proceeded to Obosi
where the children were recovered from one
Church of Goodness Motherless Babies Home.
Pregnant Adaeze who hails from Mbatolu Local
Government Area of Imo State blamed her
indulgence on the devil and her husband,
disclosing that they have been in the illicit act
for five years.
"Please forgive me. I was talked into it by my
husband. He asked me to get a child for him that
he would pay me N400,000. When I asked what
he wanted to do with the children, he assured
me it was not for ritual purpose that his boss,
Mrs Benedict takes them to motherless babies
home.
"Our targets are usually couples with more than
three children. What we do is to move into an
area, stay for about two to three months to get
acquainted with the people and immediately we
got any child, we would leave the vicinity for
another area where we are not known. We
usually rent single room apartments without
furnishing them."
Corroborating her claim, her husband, Mba, said
he ventured into the act when his sand dredging
business was no longer lucrative.
He said: "When I complained to a friend, he
introduced me to Mrs Benedict and since I met
her, my life never remained the same."
He said a male child was more expensive than
female, disclosing that Madam Benedict paid
him her as much as N600,000 for a male child
and four N400,000 for female. But for each child
brought by his wife, he said he used to make
N200,000 gain.
"What we do is immediately we succeed in
stealing a child, we send him/her to my boss
who in turn sell to motherless babies home and
to barren women. I was responsible for my
landlord's missing children. I sold them for
N400,000 each in Mbatolu, Imo State."
Vanguard gathered that Mrs Benedict was
arrested after the policemen who posed as
pregnant women called her on phone to inform
her that they had a baby boy for sale. But on
arriving the designated point in Asaba, Delta
State, the suspect who sensed trouble was said to
have zoomed off with one of the police women
in her car, in a bid to escape but was
overpowered.
The suspects, according to Braide, would be
charged to court soon.
On her part, the woman whom the couple sold 4-
year-old Uchenna to begged the world to forgive
her that she opted to buy the child following her
inability to give birth to a child of her own.
" I was married for 21 years without a child to
call mine. Someone introduced me to Benedicta
and when I told her I needed a child, she
requested for N600,000 but I told her I could
not afford that amount. She later called me to
meet her at the River Niger bridge at Onitcha.
On getting there he handed over the child to me.
I told her he was too big but she said that was
the only one she had.
I changed Uchenna's name to Amarachi and
enrolled him in a school where I pay N50,000
per term", said the widow who simply gave her
name as Patricia.
On her part, 35 year-old Benedicta Ogbonna,
who is a mother of four said she was only
involved in the act to help barren women. Asked
why she did not offer her own children for sale,
she kept mute.
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