The Akwa Ibom State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Murtala Mani
has disclosed that 11 suspected child traffickers were arrested in the state at
the weekend.
According to him, a woman, Comfort Edem, was arrested on
October 13, following intelligence report that she had been running an illegal
maternity home for the purpose of trading in children.
Mani, who spoke through the Police Public Relations Officer
in the state, Cordelia Nwawe, noted that the suspects sold the trafficked
children at N450,000 each.
According to him, “the suspects went after pregnant
teenagers and negotiated the prices of the unborn children with them and once
the babies were born, they would be given to the traffickers. Information at
our disposal led to the interception of a syndicate which traffic babies in
Akwa Ibom. On October 13, the anti-kidnapping unit intercepted a woman who owns
an illegal maternity home. She specialises in making sure that she takes in
pregnant teenagers.
Once the babies are born, those babies are sold and
trafficked out of Akwa Ibom. As a matter of fact, the girls had reliably
informed us that this is not the first time they had sold their babies for
N450,000 each.”
He also said another syndicate, who sold children for
N500,000 each, was also smashed, adding that the police had rescued a two-month
old girl who had been sold to a woman in Rivers State.
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