An 18-year-old s e c o n d a r y school student in Abia State, Abigail Udofia, has told the police that she was given N250,000 out of N800,000 her threemonth- old baby was sold. Udofia, from Bende Local Government Area, said she was directed to the house of a suspected child trafficker, Esther Asuquo, where she stayed and was delivered of a baby boy.
She said: “After delivery, Asuquo gave me N250,000 while my baby was sold for N800,000.”This was as the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Leye Oyebade, handed another three-monthold baby recovered by the police to its mother, a 17-year-old girl, Ezinne Obia.

The baby was allegedly stolen by the same Asuquo, who hails from Akwa Ibom State. The suspected trafficker was said to have sold the baby on the pretence that she would take care of her. However, detectives attached to the state Anti-Kidnapping Unit recovered the baby while Udofia’s baby was yet to be found.

Speaking in Umuahia while parading the suspected child traffickers, Oyebade said that the public had responded to the recent call by his command to give information to the police, which had led to the successes the police had recorded.

He said: “During interrogation, both confessed to have sold their babies to Esther Asuquo and her colleagues in Port Harcourt, we later recovered one of the babies, a girl of three months.” The commissioner disclosed that the command also recovered a three-year-old baby. According to him, the discovery followed a report made at Ogbor Hill Police Station by Rose Ndukwu that her three-year-old daughter, Testimony Ndukwu, had been stolen.

He said: “My men swung into action and all the escape routes were blocked which led to the arrest of Chinemerem Isaiah (20) and Chioma Mark (14) with the baby. Oyebade said that the police were after the intended buyers and their accomplices. According to him, child trafficking is a crime against humanity and the command is fighting to stop it.