The Nasarawa State Police Command has presented to the public 12 members of a child trafficking syndicate who were apprehended in the state.
These suspected child traffickers, allegedly involved in the abduction and sale of forty-five children, were among those paraded on Friday, February 16, 2024, at the Police Command Headquarters in Lafia for various offenses committed in the state.
Providing details to the media, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Shehu Umar Nadada, disclosed that a total of 57 suspects had been arrested by the command from January 01 until present date.
CP Nadada provided a breakdown of the suspects, which included 3 suspected kidnappers, 3 armed robbery suspects, and twenty suspected fraudsters, among others apprehended in different locations across the state for crimes such as rape, motorcycle/vehicle theft, and other offenses.
He recounted an incident on January 10, 2024, where police operatives from Keffi Division intervened during a mob action and rescued a 5-year-old boy who was abducted by Ismaila Adamu at Tsohon Kasuwa, Keffi. Adamu was arrested and taken to the hospital for treatment, while the child was rescued.
Further investigation by the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit led to the arrest of additional suspects, including Hassana Jacob, Elishua Idoko, Gloria Ene, Abdulkarim Abubakar, Ramatu Ibrahim, Victoria Cosmos, Eforma Sunday, Dorcas Ologbo, and Sherifat Amuda.
Analysis of the suspects’ phones revealed that forty-five children had been stolen and sold, with the suspects admitting to the theft and sale of multiple children at varying prices, ranging from N350,000 to N1,500,000, depending on their age and gender.
The suspects confessed to colluding with Social Welfare officers from some ministries, producing fake documents, and selling the children to willing buyers.
So far, six children have been rescued in Abuja, Ondo, and Lagos State, respectively, with ongoing efforts to apprehend more suspects involved in the crime and recover additional stolen children.
Items recovered from the suspects included counterfeit foreign currency, firearms, ammunition, 10 motorcycles, 02 vehicles, and other exhibits.
