Joy Anyim
Men of the Ogun State Police Command have arrested three members of a syndicate, who specialise in stealing and selling of children.
The suspects, it was learnt, stole children from the south-west region of the country and also sold them off to ready buyers in the south-eastern part.
Their mode of operation, it was further gathered, was for two members of the gang to disguise as a couple looking for an apartment in an area where children always gather to play with little or no supervision from their parents.
The suspects had used the same strategy to steal eight children from different locations in Ogun State.
They had also sold the children to buyers in Anambra and Abia states.
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According to Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, when the report on the activities of the gang reached the command, the state’s Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, directed the anti-kidnapping/cultist unit to immediately launch a man haunt for the gang.
Oyeyemi said the directive paid off as the team trailed the principal suspect, Mary Paul to Ondo State where she had been arrested, tried and remanded in prison custody for same offence.
Information from the principal suspect also led to the arrest of Kate Njoku, Joy Okorie and Onyeka Joseph in Ogun State. “Through synergy with Ondo Command, relevant information was extracted, and that led to the arrest of three other members of the gang who were directly involved in stealing of eight children across Ogun State and three out of those children have been recovered from them.
“One of the stolen children, Temidayo Ajayi, who was abducted with his brother in Sagamu in July 2018 has been reunited with his parent, while efforts are on to recover his brother from the gang,” he said.
The PPRO disclosed that the suspects have all made useful statements on how they stole the children and sold them to their accomplices in the eastern part of the country.
While the command have extended their investigation to Anambra State and other area mentioned by the suspects, CP Makama has also ordered a thorough investigation into the criminal act, with a view to arrest and prosecute other members of the syndicate.
The police boss equally appealed to parents to take the security of their children serious by not leaving their wards to the care of a total stranger.
