The Abia State Police Command, Friday paraded a suspected child trafficker identified as Roland Egbe.
Egbe, upon interrogation reportedly confessed that he bought fried
yam to attract the two kids he allegedly stole from their parents.
The suspect, who claimed to be a ticket seller at Oyigbo in Rivers
State, said he handed the children over to his friend identified only as
Uche, who in turns sold them to one Chioma Ohajimadu and Mrs. Comfort
Ogbonnaya who reside at No. 69, Ososu road, Aba.
In his confession before newsmen while being paraded at the police
officers mess in Umuahia, the state capital, Egbe said, “Uche introduced
me to child trafficking business and persuaded me to get a child
urgently as a buyer was already waiting to pay for the child.
“One evening, about two weeks ago, I went to eat at Oyigbo
roundabout, Uche started calling me repeatedly to get the child he told
me to bring but I told him that I know the parents of the child I wanted
to bring to him and I don’t want to hurt them.
“He insisted that I should bring the child, so after speaking with
him, I asked him to come around and wait for me. Then I went to where
the children normally gather to play around the area because the little
boy, Marvellous Heart, normally comes to me each time I am around his
mother’s shop.
“When he saw me that evening, he ran to me and l bought sweets for
him; from there, I carried him and met Uche, who was waiting for me at a
distance. That was how we took the boy to Aba. He gave me N50,000 only
and promised to pay me the balance later.
“But after some days, the woman that bought the boy started calling
me to complain that she doesn’t want the boy again, that we should bring
another child for her. That was how Uche forced me to go and steal
another child for the woman.
“The second time, I saw some children around a spot where they sell
fried yam around Imo River and bought some fried yam for them. When I
was leaving, I left with one of them.”
Parading the suspects, the state Commissioner of Police, CP, Adeleye
Oyebade, said “Egbe was earlier arrested and paraded for child
trafficking on December 7, 2016, before the operatives attached to the
Special Anti-Robbery Squad at Obehie rescued the four-year-old Heart
stolen about two weeks ago.
The CP warned parents to monitor their children closely and warn them
to stop accepting gifts from strangers and people around them this
Christmas period.