…as Gombe police command returns unclaimed children to Anambra
By Okosun Dennis
Wonders shall cease, says a dictum.
A woman who specializes in stealing children in Gombe state and transport them for sale in Anambra state for between N200,000 to N400,000 depending on the age bracket or gender has been arrested by the police.
Investigations revealed that the children were stolen from Gombe State by one Hauwa Usman, a female on October 20, 2019, and brought to her accomplices in Anambra State.
However, due to the public announcement by the Police Command on October, 27, 2019, the parents of the two kids from Gombe State came to Awka and identified their children.
CSP Haruna Mohammed, Police Public Relations Officer, Anambra State Command revealed that the police in Gombe State disclosed that the suspects voluntarily confessed that they usually steal the children and bring to their sponsor, one Mrs Nkechi Odinye, in Anambra State, who buys each child at the rate of between N200 to 400,000, depending on their age bracket and gender.
Consequently upon that, the children recovered have been reunited with their parents and suspects were handed over to the Gombe State Police Command for discreet investigation and prosecution.
It would be recalled that on November 22, 2019, following an intelligence report, Police operatives attached to the Anambra State Police Command arrested three female suspects at Nkpor Market/Tarzan Junction in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, with three children suspected to have been stolen.
However, following the voluntary confession by the suspects and based on a tip off, Police detectives attached to 3-3 Division, in collaboration with operatives attached to the Command’s Special Anti-Cult Section (SPACS), stormed the hideout of the principal suspect, Mrs Nkechi Odinye, 55, and arrested her at Obosi in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State.
It was learnt that before now, the suspect had evaded arrest for over three years as she resorted to changing of locations until luck ran out of her.
Besides, the police team also recovered 16 other children of various age brackets, comprising 10 boys and six girls, reasonably suspected to have been stolen from different parts of the country under her custody.
Both the suspect and the found children were handed over to the Gombe State Police Command and four of them have been identified and reunited with their biological parents after exhaustive investigation and forensic analysis, including DNA tests were carried out.
However, one of them was handed over to the parents in Asaba, Delta State.
CSP Haruna disclosed that on January 18, 2021, the Gombe State Police Command returned 11 unclaimed children comprising Seven boys and four girls, back to the Anambra State Command where the children were originally found.
They were subsequently handed over to the Anambra State Ministry for Social Welfare, Women’s and Children’s Affairs, for safe keeping until their biological parents emerge.
Meanwhile, the Command’s spokesperson said a total of 18 unclaimed children rescued from suspected child traffickers are under the custody of the Command.
He enjoins members of the public with the directives of the State Commissioner of Police, CP John Abang, to disseminate this information through their mediums to enable the biological parents or close relatives identify these children with their photographs and claim them.
He added that anyone with useful information about the found children should report at Area Command Onitsha, 3-3 Divisional Police Station, Nkwelle Ezunaka, or contact the PPRO, Anambra State Police Command, through GSM no 08060970639.
https://any.peopleandpowermag.com/police-nabs-child-trafficking-kingpin/
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