Police burst child trafficking syndicates, rescue six in Enugu
The police command in Enugu has busted child stealing and trafficking syndicates rescuing six children and arresting 10 suspects.
The command’s spokesman, Daniel Ndukwe, said this in a statement on Saturday in Enugu.
Mr Ndukwe said the success was recorded in multiple coordinated operations that took place between June 30 and July 16.
He said that 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,” said Mr Ndukwe.
He said one of those arrested confessed to buying the rescued girl in 2021 at the cost of N900,000 and the boy for N1.4 million in 2024.
Mr 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 detained, while the child was rescued and reunited with his mother, the police said.
The spokesman explained that in a transnational case, on July 4, police operatives from the Emene Division detained a suspect after a report that she trafficked a 14-year-old female victim to Ghana.
“She confessed and helped police detain her male accomplice. The victim was safely rescued and reunited with her family. Both suspects were arraigned and remanded in the correctional custody,” he said.
According to him, a girl and her mother and another woman were also arrested by operatives of Ogui Division for allegedly running a child trafficking ring.
He said the girl gave birth and sold the newborn for N1.4 million in connivance with her mother and the woman they were arrested together with.
He said the Ogui Division also arrested another woman trying to steal a baby in a salon.
“The mother raised an alarm after seeing the suspect leaving with the baby in a tricycle. The suspect was apprehended and manhandled by an angry mob before she was rescued and detained by the police,” he said.
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette
Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices
Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”
Lagos
Residents, traders bemoan health risks as refuse overruns Oyingbo road
Ms Adebayo said that the situation had discouraged customers from patronising them.
Africa
Nigeria, Ghana join forces against afrophobic protests
The ministers agreed to deepen bilateral ties to ensure the issue of Afrophobia is placed on the agenda of the next African Union summit.
Heading 3
Troops kill two terrorists, rescue three victims in two-day raid of Benue hideout
Mr Zubairu stated, “The operation commenced at about 0300 hours on 16 July and concluded on 17 July 2026.”
NationWide
Institute, AFFCN sensitise grassroots to tax, electoral, reforms
Mr Adebayo stated that the unique strength of the initiative was the strategic involvement of former councillors drawn from the six South-South states.
NationWide
Nigeria’s energy crisis biggest obstacle to industrialisation: Sanusi
Mr Sanusi said addressing the country’s estimated 100 billion-dollar power infrastructure funding gap would require deep structural reforms.
States
NISO announces planned outage on Jos-Bauchi-Gombe transmission line
The system operator commended electricity market participants and electricity consumers in the affected areas for their understanding and cooperation.
