P.M.EXPRESS reports that it was disclosed by one of the accomplices, Onyedinka Esiala, who was caught using children with fake stomach tumour to beg for alms at Mile 2 area of Lagos State.
The suspect, Esiala, from Enugu State, was exposed by a passerby on Wednesday, September 28, 2022 which drew the attention of other people around the area and he exposed his boss, Uche and made the confessional statements, which are now assisting the Police to unmask the prime suspect, Uche and his gang now at large.
During interrogation by the Police, Esiala confessed that it was his boss, Uche, that initiated the scam to give the children unknown drugs to make their stomachs swell. He revealed that Uche brings kids to Lagos every year he travels to the Eastern part of the country for the purpose of using them for the lucrative alms begging in the State.
In his statement to the Police he stated as follows:
“My name is Onyedinka and I am from Enugu State. My oga is Uche. When I came from the village, I did not get any work to do; then he told me to be helping him to be take these children out for begging.” he said.
“Whenever I am about to take the kids from Orile to Mile 2 pedestrian bridge, my Oga will give them drugs though I don’t know the name of the medicines, which will make their stomach get swollen for some hours, and the kids’ mothers are aware of the business. Their mothers stay in the village.”
“The children were staying with them in the village before they gave them to my Oga to come to Lagos. The girls are not my sisters, but their mother often brings them to my Oga. Some kids stay for a year with us, and half of the money made from begging is sent to their mothers in the village. My Oga does give them black drugs. I don’t know the name of the drugs. My Oga did not tell me the name but it’s a black drug.”
“My Oga brought one of the kids last year December while the other girl has spent three months with us. There is a boy among them but did not come today because he was not feeling too well.”
“We do not come every day. We sometimes come three times in a week. My oga’s name is Uche and we have another set of people that stay at Ajagbadi, but I don’t know the exact place. The person that handles that of Ajagbadi is different from the one handling us in Mile 2. The name is Goodluck, but he is currently not in Lagos; he travelled, and his younger brother is in charge,” he added.
This was confirmed by the Police Public Relations Officer, SP Benjamin Hundeyin, who disclosed that Esiala was in Police custody undergoing interrogation over the conduct.
He said that the suspect will be charged before Court after the conclusion of the investigation and meanwhile the Police were making every efforts to arrest other members of the gang.