A suspected child trafficker, Sabira Izuorah, has told men of the Ondo State Police Command that it costs #500.000.00 to buy a child and is usually sold at #1 million and above to prospective buyers.
The 62-year-old woman who claimed she operated an orphanage at Ihiala in Anambra State could not recollect the number of children she has sold to different customers. Also, she said she could not know what the buyers use the children for once she has sold them.
Izuorah and two other accomplices who specialize in child stealing and trafficking were arrested by the Police for allegedly stealing 14 children from different parts of the country.
The Commissioner of Police, Ondo State Command, Mr Wilfred Olutokunbo Afolabi, who paraded the suspects in Akure, said through intelligence-led policing, the suspects were traced to Ottah Village in Edo State and Ihiala in Anambra State, where they were arrested.
Afolabi listed the suspects to include Lukman Isiaka, Abosede Olanipekun, and the head of the syndicate, a 62year-old woman, Sabira Izuorah, who had the stolen children in Anambra before she was nabbed. They initially gave fake names before the intelligence revealed their true identities.
The Police Boss disclosed that Sabira purchased the children from the two other suspects at the rate of N500,000 per child while she sold to the final buyer at the rate of One Million Naira per child.
Afolabi said some children are currently on the missing list while efforts are ongoing to rescue them, and the suspects will be charged in court upon completion of the investigation.
Revealing the way the suspects usually operate, Afolabi said A complainant reported that a man, Lukman Isiaka, m age, 42 years), and a woman, Abosede Olanipekun came to her shop pretending to be siblings to eat while playing with the complainant’s child, Abosede deceived her by claiming she wanted to buy biscuits for the baby.
According to him, Lukman distracted the complainant by engaging her in a personal conversation and requested she follow her to Olukayode Plaza in the market to get a mobile phone.
“On getting to the market area, the Police Boss said he abandoned her and left, and on getting back to the shop, the complainant discovered that her child was missing with no trace of Abosede the supposed sister of the man she followed to the market.
The Police Boss said “Through intelligence-led policing, the suspects were traced to Ottah Village in Edo State, where they were arrested. During interrogation, the suspects admitted to abducting the child and other children from Ondo and Osun States and selling them to one Sabira Izuorah ‘f’ age 62 years) in Ihiala, Anambra State, at the rate of One Million Naira (₦1,000,000) per child.”
