Anambra State Police Command on Monday paraded five suspected members of child stealing syndicate and rescued eight children after they were allegedly sold to human traffickers.
The suspects, who were arrested following an intelligence report, by operatives attached to area command in Onitsha, allegedly operate in various locations states including Imo, Rivers, Abia and Anambra states.
According to the Police, the key suspect was 40-year old Joy Lazarous from Ehime Mbano, Imo State who works in Aba South Local Government, Abia State.
Other suspects are Janet Emeka Onoha (23) from Abia State, Gideon Godspower(26), Miracle Sanko (18) whose is Pregnant from Delta state and Amadu Oloye (21) from Benue state.
According to one of the suspects, Miracle Sanko who is pregnant, the principal suspect, one Mrs. Joy Lazarus had promised her in her first pregnancy, to give her 200,000 if she delivers a baby girl and 300,000 if it is a boy.
“When I gave birth, they told me that the baby died during delivery. When I asked them to show me the corpse, they refused. She has also promised to give me #200,000 for a girl child and #300,000 for a male child when I deliver and that was why I am living in her house. She also said after the payment, I will refund her the money she used to take care of me,” the pregnant teenager claimed.
Another suspect, Gideon Godspower confessed that he conspired with her wife Janet Onoha, and sold their baby to the woman.
He also said they sold two of his sister’s children at Khana, rivers state at the cost of 200, 000 each.
But the principal suspect, Mrs Lazarus, denied that no child was brought to her by any of the suspects.
According to her, she only sent #5,000 to the couple that accused her of buying their children for their upkeep, when they complained to her that they are having financial difficulty.
“I am innocent of these accusations. Nobody brought any child to me to buy. I only know the small girl from Lagos because someone brought her to stay with me when she couldn’t cope with her condition. The children with me are my children and those of my sister,” she denied.
Meanwhile, while parading the suspects at Area Command, Onitsha, the Police Public Relations Officer in Anambra, Haruna Mohammed said the rescued children will be handed over to the State Ministry of Women Affairs for protective custody.
He called on members of the public whose children were either stolen or missing to report to the area command in Onitsha with sufficient evidence.
