A couple, who bought a one-month old baby for N30,000 in Ajah area of Lagos State, has been arrested and the baby rescued at Bridgehead in Onitsha on 17th December, 2023 in Anambra State.
P.M.EXPRESS reports that the suspects were arrested following a tip off by a fellow passenger in the bus, which they boarded in Lagos, who observed that the mother of the baby was not feeding the baby with her breasts despite the baby crying throughout the journey.
This was disclosed by the Police Public Relations Officer, of the Anambra State Command, DSP Tochukwu Ikenga, who confirmed that the interception was made at Bridgehead in Onitsha by the Police operatives on a tip off.
“The Police in Anambra State have arrested a couple for trafficking a one-month old baby into Anambra State from Lagos and the couple confessed to buying the child for N30,000, after they were arrested at Bridgehead Onitsha, while travelling into Anambra from Lagos, after a tip-off by a fellow passenger.”
“The couple was travelling in a Luxury bus belonging to a popular transport company with the baby when a co-passenger observed that the mother could not breastfeed the baby despite its cry for food in the course of the journey.
The good Samaritan put a call through to Anambra Police on its Control Room hotline in Awka, which then relayed the information to the Police at Bridgehead in Onitsha.”
“The Police laid in wait for the luxury bus and intercepted it in the evening hours. The couple and the baby were identified and brought down for questioning.
They confessed buying the child from its mother in Ajah, Lagos, for the sum of N30,000.”
DSP Ikenga stated that the Commissioner of Police, CP Aderemi Adeoye, thanked the public spirited citizen for his concern and providing useful information to the Police to discharge their lawful duty.
The Police boss has directed that the couple be handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition in Trafficking of Persons, NAPTIP, for further investigation and prosecution, while the baby has been handed over to the Ministry of Women Affairs for care by the State Government.