A 15-year-old girl, Precious Ehiedo, and two others, Juliet Ogben and Favour Okoh, have been arrested by men of the operatives of the Imo state police command for allegedly stealing and selling two siblings between the ages of two and seven for N800,000.
While parading the suspects before newsmen and also handing one of the recovered babies to the parents, the state Commissioner of Police, Dasuki Galadanchi, said Precious stole the siblings, two-year-old Chiemerem and seven-year-old Mmesoma Nwoke, in Ehime Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State after following the advise of her parents who refused to give her money for money to register for the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination WASSCE, when she asked.
Her parents had told her they had no money for her exam registration and advised her to do what her ‘mates are doing’, steal children, sell them and make money.
“On November 13 at around 9am, one Precious Ehiedo, 15, daughter of Mr and Mrs Romeo and Uchechi Ehiedo, resident at Ogbuaku in Mbaitoli LGA of Imo State but natives of Abraka in Delta State, requested from her parents money for the SSCE registration. Her parents told her to go and steal children for them to sell in order to raise money for her examination. Being familiar with the two children at her maternal home, Umuezeala Ama, in Ehime Mbano LGA of Imo State, she stole the children.
“The girl and her father left for Mbano, but the father stopped at the Amaraku Market square, waiting for his daughter to hand over the children, who he had instructed her to steal. The 15-year-old met the children playing, stole them and joined her father at the Amaraku Market and both left with the children to Ogbaku. The children were sold to one Mama Joy at the rate of N800,000. Mama Joy, with one Favour Okoh, resold one of the children to one Juliet Ogbor for N750,000.”
Galadanchi said the police immediately commenced investigation and was able to recover one of the children, Chiemerem, on December 15th at Agbor in Delta State.
One of the recovered children with her parents in the photo above.
The police boss added that the suspects would be arraigned in court soon.
