Legal Nigeria

Police rescue 16 children from alleged trafficker

The Rivers State Police Command has rescued 16  children from a  woman alleged to be involved in child trafficking at Ozuoba in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.

The Nation reports  that some residents of the area raised the alarm over the activities of the woman, who they said was found of returning home with different children.

A woman in the area,  according to the report, said : “This lady was doing child trafficking, picking people’s children from churches and different communities in Rivers state.

“So just yesterday (Saturday) some people held the woman and called the Ozuoba Police. The Police came, arrested her and took the children away.”

According to the report, another resident said the woman had been staying in the compound in the last two years with different children.

He said: “The police said they came from Akwa Ibom State and that the woman is a child trafficking suspect. For two years the woman has been staying in the compound with the children, almost 200 children, some coming and going.

“At night I don’t sleep, they will be beating mortar till today that they (police) came to arrest her and take the children away”.

The Rivers  State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the incident.  The report quotes her as saying: “I can confirm the rescue of the children based on intelligence gathering. The Ozoaba team acting on a tip off went there and the children were rescued from the estate within Ozuoba. 16 children in total.

“The case has been transferred to the Commissioner of Police Monitoring Unit for discreet investigation.

“Yes, an arrest has been made from the information I got but like I said investigation is ongoing to find out if there are others involved”.

Source: PM News