Police crack down on child trafficking syndicates, arrest 10

The Police Command in Enugu State has busted child stealing and trafficking syndicates, rescuing six children and arresting 10 suspects.

The Command’s Spokesman, Daniel Ndukwe, made this known in a statement on Saturday in Enugu.

Ndukwe said the success was recorded in multiple coordinated operations that took place between June 30 and July 16. He said the syndicates and suspects were involved in both local and transnational child trafficking.

“Two trafficked children were rescued: Loveth Mfonobong, 16, whose name had been changed to Ifunanya Chiaha, and Benjamin Alex Okon, 12, renamed Udochukwu Chiaha,” he said. One of those arrested confessed to buying the rescued girl in 2021 at a cost of N900,000 and the boy for N1.4 million in 2024.

Ndukwe said that on July 13, police operatives from the Command’s Awkunanaw Division, with Neighbourhood Watch, rescued a one-year-seven-month-old boy and detained one suspect. The suspect was found carrying the baby and was detained, while the child was rescued and reunited with his mother.

The spokesman said that in a transnational case, on July 4, police operatives from the Emene Division detained a suspect after receiving a report that she had trafficked a 14-year-old female victim to Ghana. “She confessed and helped the police detain her male accomplice. The victim was safely rescued and reunited with her family. Both suspects were arraigned and remanded in correctional custody,” he said.

According to him, a girl and her mother, along with another woman, were also arrested by operatives of the Ogui Division for allegedly running a child trafficking ring. The girl had given birth and sold the newborn for N1.4 million in connivance with her mother and the woman, who were arrested together.

The Ogui Division also arrested another woman trying to steal a baby in a salon. “The mother raised an alarm after seeing the suspect leave with the baby in a tricycle. The suspect was apprehended and manhandled by an angry mob before being rescued and detained by the police,” he said.