1 month-old baby trafficked in Lagos found in Anambra

By Madu Obi

The Anambra State Police command has arrested a couple who allegedly trafficked a one- month old baby from Lagos and headed to Anambra State.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, PPRO, Mr Tochukwu Ikenga said the interception of the baby was made at the Bridgehead in Onitsha.

According to the PPRO, the couple was travelling in a luxury bus belonging to a popular transport company with the baby when a co-passenger observed that the supposed mother could not breastfeed the baby despite its cry for food in the course of the journey.

The PPRO said: "The good samaritan put a call through to Anambra Police on its control room hotline in Awka, which then relayed the information to the Police at Bridgehead in Onitsha.

"The Police in Onitsha laid in wait for the luxury bus described and intercepted it in the evening hours."

"The couple and the baby were identified and brought down for questioning and they confessed buying the child from its mother in Ajah, Lagos State for the sum of N30,000."

The state Commissioner of Police, Aderemi Adeoye has thanked the public spirited citizen for his humane concern in giving the information that led to the rescue of the child.

He also commended Police operatives for their vigilance and dedication to duty and directed that the couple be handed to the National Agency for Prohibition in Trafficking of Persons (NAPTIP) for further investigation and prosecution.

In the meantime, the baby has been handed to the Ministry of Women Affairs for care by the state government.