The Lagos police command says operatives of the Zone 2 police command, Onikan in Lagos, have rescued five children.

The assistant inspector general of police in charge of Zone 2, Adegoke Fayoade, confirmed the development to journalists in Lagos on Monday.

Mr Fayoade revealed that the rescued children, aged one to six, comprised four boys and a girl. According to him, the zone, on January 8, received an intelligence report on the activities of the child trafficking syndicate.

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

“The syndicate is led by three persons, comprising one who supplies 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.

The AIG added 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 is 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,” said the AIG.

He added, “The boy was sold at the rate of N1.5 million to someone who resides within Alausa in Ikeja but was eventually recovered on January 28 in Owerri.

“The little boy was found in the care of a supposed 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 newborn baby by the same sister of hers in the USA,” Mr Fayoade explained.

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

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

(NAN)