Rivers state police command in another breakthrough operations arrested suspected child traffickers who had confessed to unintentional crime of allegedly trying to sell off baby belonging to 20 years old school drop out.
The command police public relations officer SP Grace Iringe-Koko while briefing newsmen in port harcourt said the suspects were arrested after they left mother of the baby for dead in a farm in Ubima in Ikwerre Local government area of the state.
“On August 25, 2024, at about 6.35 a.m., Operatives of the Command attached to Ubima Divisional Headquarters received a complaint from a middle-aged woman (name and address withheld) indicating that one Queen Orlu ‘f’ aged 20 years was seen lying unconscious in Omeka Farmland at Ucheabuor.
Operatives immediately mobilised to the scene where the victim was met in a pool of blood with multiple injuries all over her body and her intestines protruding out of a cut on her stomach.
Police investigations revealed that the victim was lured into a bush path at Ubima by one Polycarp Uzoma ‘m’ of Akwa in Ohaji LGA of Imo State, but presently resident at Ubima. He used a bicycle to convey her to the designated spot and then attacked her, hitting her repeatedly with a stick and a yet-to-be-identified weapon. When she became unconscious, he took her one-year-old baby boy, Desire Orlu and left her for dead.
He then sold the baby to one Happiness Amadi ‘f’ for One Million, Four Hundred Thousand Naira (#1,400,000.00). The deal was brokered by one Chinyere Ordu ‘f’ an acclaimed auxiliary nurse who received the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (#800,000.00) as part payment for the trafficking deal.
The three suspects have been arrested and confessed to the crime and the Police have recovered the sum of Eight Hundred Thousand Naira (#800,000.00) and Bicycle as exhibits.
The one-year-old baby boy has been rescued and the victim is currently on admission at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the University of Port-Harcourt Teaching Hospital for medical treatment.
Suspects and exhibits are in Police custody and will be charged in court upon the conclusion of the investigation.