Operatives of the Imo State Police Command have uncovered two separate child trafficking cases, arrested the suspects involved, and rescued two children from the hands of traffickers.
According to the police, on August 12, operatives of the Command, while on routine stop and search along the Owerri–Port Harcourt Road, intercepted a couple identified as 46-year-old Ezekwere Ngozi ‘F’ of Udi LGA, Enugu State, resident in Abuja, and her husband 43-year-old Monday Atodo ‘M’ of Ofu LGA, Kogi State, resident in Kogi State.
They were found with a four-year-old boy, Isaiah (surname unknown), whom they falsely claimed was their biological child.
‘’Interrogation revealed that the child was stolen in Kogi State by one Blessing Ogwo and handed over in Abuja to Ngozi, whose role was to deliver trafficked children to buyers. Further investigation uncovered the syndicate’s mastermind, 56-year-old Ogochukwu Chikwelu ‘f’, of Nimo, Anambra State, and resident in Abuja, who operates St. Theresa’s Orphanage at Apo Street, Lokogoma. She was tracked, arrested in Abuja through a joint operation with the State CID, and transferred to Owerri for further investigation and prosecution.”
Okoye mentioned that the rescued child is safe, and efforts are ongoing to reunite him with his biological parents, as the command calls on members of the public with useful information to assist in this regard.
The command is also intensifying efforts to apprehend other members of the syndicate still at large.
Similarly, on July 16, operatives of the Command, acting on credible intelligence, arrested one Precious Okoh, 29, of Nkanu-East LGA, Enugu State, at Umuguma Housing Area, Owerri, with a 9-year-old girl, Promise Christopher.
She confessed that the child was stolen from Igbogene, Bayelsa State, and brought to Owerri for sale.
The operatives traced the parents to Bayelsa, and the child has since been reunited with her parent.
