By Deborah Nnamdi
NIGERIA: The Rivers Police Command has busted a child trafficking syndicate at Ubima in Ikwerre local government area of Rivers State, arresting three suspects who stole and sold a one-year-old male baby for N1.4 million and shared the proceeds.
The Police said that on August 25, 2024, at about 6.35 a.m., Operatives of the Command attached to Ubima Divisional Headquarters received a complaint from a middle-aged woman named Madam Grace (Not real name) indicating that one Miss Queen Orlu, aged 20 years was seen lying unconscious in Omeka Farmland at Ucheabuor in Ubima.
According to SP Grace Iringe-Koko, Spokesperson for the Rivers Command, Operatives immediately mobilized to the scene where the victim was met in a pool of blood with multiple injuries all over her body and her intestines protruding out of a cut on her stomach.
SP Iringe-Koko, Spokesperson for the Rivers State Police Command, while briefing Journalists in Port Harcourt, said that Police investigations revealed that the victim was lured into a bush path at Ubima by one Polycarp Uzoma from Akwa in Ohaji Local Government Area of Imo State, but presently resident at Ubima.
“He used a bicycle to convey her to the designated spot and then attacked her, hitting her repeatedly with a stick and a yet-to-be-identified weapon. When she became unconscious, he took her one-year-old baby boy, Desire Orlu, and left her to die.
“He later sold the baby to Madam Happiness Amadi for One Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira (N1,400,000.00). The deal was brokered by one Madam Chinyere Ordu, a self-acclaimed auxiliary nurse who received the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N800,000.00) as part payment for the trafficking deal”.
The three suspects have been arrested and confessed to the crime and the Police have recovered the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (N800,000.00) and Bicycle as exhibits.
The one-year-old baby boy has also been rescued and the victim is currently on admission at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital for medical treatment.
Suspects and exhibits are in Police custody and will be charged in court upon the conclusion of the investigation.
