Army Arrests Child Trafficker, Recovers 9 Kids In Nsukka
The Nigerian Army has arrested a child trafficker, and subsequently recovered nine (9) children, as part of the “Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1”, in Nsukka, Enugu State.
The arrest and subsequent detention was part of the “Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1”.
This was revealed in a statement to the Nigerian News Agency (NAN), public relations office, on Tuesday, by Col. Aliyu Yusuf, Deputy Director for Public Relations of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army.
Yusuf said that a total of nine children from the suspected child trafficker have been recovered, including four girls and five boys between the ages of two and 13. He named Msr. Rebecca Nwachi, 40, as the child dealer.
According to Yusuf,
At about 6 a.m. on Jan. 2, 20202; troops of Sector 5 of Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1 deployed at Orba Check-point in Udenu council area of Enugu State (within Nsukka general area) intercepted above named woman with nine children.
The trafficker was intercepted in a luxurious bus with registration number ANAMBRA NEN 429 ZD belonging to FG Onyenwe Company.
The woman claimed she was taking the children from an orphanage in Jos, Plateau State to another orphanage in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The woman produced a handwritten document signed by a pastor, showing a list of the names of the children, as an official document to facilitate the transportation of the children.
However, during the preliminary investigation, a family member of one of the children who was contacted revealed that the family was not aware of how one of the victims, named Joshua got to Nsukka.
This was corroborated by other contacts that were thankful to Sector 5 army troops for intercepting the illegal trafficking.
The army spokesman said that the kids, who cried of starvation and reported that they hadn’t been eaten since yesterday, were fed food from troops.
He added
The suspected trafficker and the children have been handed over to Enugu State Police Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation before handing over to NAPTIP, for necessary action,
Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.