POLICE BUSTS CHILD TRAFFICKING SYNDICATE, RESCUES 3-YEAR-OLD BOY IN DELTA

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Six men who were thought to be child traffickers were stopped by Officers of the Delta State Police Command

The police operation resulted in the recovery of a three-year-old youngster who was taken hostage by the gang.

According to reports, Aisha Yusuf of the Abraka village in Asaba reported to the police station on June 13, 2023, at around 8:30 a.m., that her three-year-old son, Abubakar Atiku, had been taken by one Mohammed Isah, 35.

In response to the report, Delta State’s Commissioner of Police, CP Wale Abass, issued a directive to Divisional Police Officer ‘C’ Division Asaba, CSP Apu Torukeregha, ordering him to arrest the offender and recover the kidnapped child.

Following this order, the DPO directed members of the division’s anti-crime patrol squad to conduct a frantic search for the kidnapped child.

After a tip, the squad raided Abraka market in Oshimili-South LGA, where Mohammed Isah, the main suspect, was apprehended.

He admitted to the crime during questioning, which helped police agents apprehend three additional members of the child theft syndicate: Ibrahim Sani (age 23), Kabiru Ibrahim (age 52), and Abubakar Mohammed, a 32-year-old handicapped man.

According to preliminary investigations, the criminal organization is part of a child trafficking ring that kidnaps children and sells them for astronomical sums of money.

The suspects also led policemen to a hotel in Onitsha Anambra State where the team arrested one Suleiman Mohammed, (38), in whose custody the missing child was found.
The suspect arrested in Anambra, like others, has confessed to the police that he was waiting for the supposed buyer of the said child, noting that they had agreed to sell the child for the sum of N800,000.

Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relations Officer for Delta State Command, DSP Bright Edafe, informed that the child has been recovered and reunited with the mother, while the suspects are in custody, as the investigation is ongoing.

In another development, on June 12, 2023, at 0800 hours, operatives of ‘A’ Division, Warri Anti-Crime Patrol team while on visibility patrol along the African Church behind Daudu Police post, sighted a tricycle with Registration No. BUR 240 VC, conveying two male occupants who were heading in their direction.

The PPRO stated that when the team accosted the tricycle for a routine search, the duo jumped out and escaped, even as the team chased after the fleeing suspects who narrowly escaped.

However, when a thorough search was conducted on the abandoned tricycle, one locally fabricated cut-to-size pistol was recovered.

The police spokesman noted that the exhibits are presently in police custody, while the manhunt for the fleeing suspects is ongoing.