Gombe police parade 4 suspects with 12 kidnapped children
The Gombe State Police Command has paraded four suspected human traffickers who kidnapped 12 children and allegedly sold them to human traffickers in Onitsha, Anambra State.
Parading the suspects yesterday, the state Commissioner of Police, Maikudi Shehu, said most of the children were abducted while playing at their respective neighborhoods.
The suspects are; Ali Bala Shakani from Taraba state, Hauwa Usman from Gombe state and Nkechi Odulye and Faith Okpai from Anambra state.
He said the children were reported missing some time in 2017 when their parents reported their disappearance to the police in the state.
CP Shehu added that the three principal suspects, Ali, Faith and Nkechi has been on the run for three years before they were finally arrested by the police last week, following an investigation that led the police to Anambra state.
He revealed that one of the suspects, Ali Shaukane sold his two biological children to Nkechi Odulye in Anambra state.
The police commissioner added that several children reported missing from Gombe state have already been sold to buyers in Delta State.
Although none of the 12 children rescued are from Gombe State, one of the suspects confessed of stealing about 20 children from Gombe, which she claimed to have sold to the syndicate headed by Nkechi.
However, Nkechi claimed that she is not a human trafficker, but owned an orphanage home registered by the Anambra State Government.
According to her, after training the children at her orphanage home, she sold seven of them to some foster mothers in Asaba, Delta State at the cost of N750,000 each.
On his part, Ali Shaukane denied selling his biological children, saying being a Muslim, he only entrusted them to Nkechi to train them in Christianity because he wants them to be brought up as Christians.
On her part, Faith claimed to have never met with the three other suspects with whom they were paraded.
Meanwhile, Hauwa said she was introduced into the business by her boyfriend, Ali, who collected the children from her and sold them to Nkechi at Onitsha in Anambra state.
She revealed that they sell male children for N300, 000, while female goes for N250, 000.
Speaking with Daily Trust, Pastor Henry Osah and Mrs Florence Osah who came from Delta State to unite with their son, Joel Henry, said he was abducted when he was just two years, seven months on July 19, 2019.
Mrs Osah said the son was abducted while playing at their two bedroom apartment at Emede in Isoko South LGA of Delta State.
“I cannot express my happiness for seeing my beloved son again one year since he was abducted. I recognised him instantly with a scar on his forehead, unfortunately, he didn’t recognise me,” she said.