A 4-year old boy, Okeh Makoochukwu, has been rescued by the operatives of the Ebonyi State Police Command from child trafficking syndicate.
The boy was stolen from his mother, Okeh Nkemdiri, at a market in Ebonyi and sold to Anambra State.
The little boy was sold thrice till he was rescued from the last buyer, who bought him for N355,000.
The spokesperson for the Ebonyi State Police Command, Loveth Odah, in a statement, on Friday, in Abakaliki, disclosed that boy was recovered in Anambra State through a one-month painstaking police investigation.
Odah, who further disclosed that the child was stolen from the mother at a market in the state in March, said: “On the 11th day of April, 2022, a case of stolen child was reported to the Ebonyi State Police Command by one Okeh Nkemdiri ‘f’ against one Uchechukwu Ebenyi age 27yrs ‘m’ of Amukpa Okengwu Ezilo in the Ishielu LGA of Ebonyi State alleging that on the 21st March, 2022, at about 1200hrs she went to their local market with her four-year-old son, Okeh Makoochukwu, whom she suddenly discovered was no longer seen.
“She immediately raised the alarm in the market but all efforts to trace her son’s whereabouts proved abortive.
“Police detectives, on receipt of information, swung into action and arrested the suspect, Uchechukwu Ebenyi. On interrogation, Ebenyi confessed to have sold the little Makoochukwu Okeh for the sum of N50,000 to one Chidiebere Ogbu ‘m’, a native of Amoukpa Okeugwu Eziulo in the Ishielu LGA of Ebonyi State, who resides in Anambra State alongside one Ekeh Ukamaka ‘f’ of the same address.
“The police detectives trailed the recipient of the stolen child to Anambra State, where he was arrested alongside two others. The child could not be located immediately as the suspects had also sold him to other persons.
Upon interrogation, he (Ogbu) confessed to have sold the child to a third party with the help of one Dr. Lambert’s wife (name unknown) but now at large through Nwagwu Onyeka ‘m’ currently residing at the Idemili North LGA of Anambra State at the sum of N350,000.
“The child was further traced to one Chibuzor Azubuike ‘m’ who later took the detectives to Ezenwa Scholastica whom the child was recovered from, on the 3rd May, 2022.”
