The Imo State Police Command has, in separate operations, rescued two children who were victims of child trafficking.
A press statement issued by the command’s spokesperson, DSP Henry Okoye, stated that the police, in its sustained campaign against crime and criminality in the state, uncovered two separate child trafficking cases and arrested the suspects involved.
Okoye explained that on August 12, operatives of the command, while conducting a routine stop and search along the Owerri–Port Harcourt Road, intercepted a 46-year-old woman, Ngozi Ezekwere, from Udi LGA, Enugu State, but residing in Abuja, together with a 43-year-old man, Monday Atodo, from Ofu LGA, Kogi State. Both suspects, according to Okoye, claimed to be a couple.
He further stated that the two suspects were found with a four-year-old boy, identified as Isaiah, whom they falsely claimed was their biological child.
The police spokesperson indicated that interrogation revealed the child had been stolen in Kogi State by one Blessing Ogwo and handed over in Abuja to Ngozi, whose role, as reported, was to deliver trafficked children to buyers.
Okoye added that further investigation uncovered the syndicate’s mastermind, a 56-year-old woman, Ogochukwu Chikwelu, of Nimo, Anambra State, residing in Abuja, who operates St. Theresa’s Orphanage at Apo Street, Lokogoma.
The press statement revealed that she was arrested in Abuja through a joint operation with the State CID and transferred to Owerri for further investigation and prosecution.
“Meanwhile, 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,” the statement said.
In a similar development, on July 16, operatives of the command, acting on credible intelligence, arrested a 29-year-old woman, Precious Okoh, of Nkanu-East LGA, Enugu State, at Umuguma Housing Area, Owerri, with a nine-year-old girl, Promise Christopher.
The 29-year-old suspect reportedly confessed that the child was stolen from Igbogene, Bayelsa State, and brought to Owerri for sale.
According to him, the operatives traced the child’s parents to Bayelsa, and she has since been reunited with them.
The suspects, the command’s spokesperson added, will be charged in court once the investigation is completed.
