Operatives of the National Agency for Prohibition of
Trafficking in Persons, NAPTIP, and the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA,
weekend, rescued about 40 children from a torture chamber. The chamber,
operated in Abuja by a witch doctor, is where witches and wizards are exorcized.
According to sources, the children, aged between five and
seven years, are taken to the said witch doctor, one Mr. Ikoh, at the Torture
Clinic in Mararaba area of Abuja, by parents and guardians after they have been
hypnotised by persons suspected to be working in partnership with the witch
doctor.
The children are then chained and tortured into confessing
that they are witches/wizards, after the parents or guardians of the children
would have been made to part with sums of money ranging from N50,000 to
N100,000.
The sources said the alleged witch doctor has raked in
nothing less than N10 million from unsuspecting members of the public within
the last two months alone.
It was further gathered that Ikoh maltreat the children to the
point of death, sometimes through starvation and flogging. Ikoh, who hails from
Akoh village in Nasarawa State, has been handed over to the Police and is said
to have been in the business for several months.
Officials of NAPTIP, while confirming the story, noted that
the rescued children are being moved to a facility where they will undergo
medical tests to ascertain the level of torture they were subjected to. The
impact of their experience on their mental state will also be acsertained
before working out how they can be reunited with their families.
Source: Vanguard
0 Comments