Child trafficking in Delta State #(must read)

Child trafficking syndicate arrested in Delta by SARS
Suspected child traffickers recently arrested by the Special Anti
Robbery Squad (SARS) at the Delta State police command said
they engage in the business to assist pregnant girls including
married couples who don’t have children.
SARS rescued five children suspected to have been sold by
members of the group who operate within Delta, Anambra, Cross
River, Akwa-Ibom and Rivers state.
The suspects said:
“We sold babies between 1-5 years of age to those
who have been married for several years without
children. Some of us are nurses and supportive
members of staff of health institutions.
We do not know how the police got wind of our illicit
businesses while we were operating in Asaba and
Onitsha. In most cases, a child costs between
N250,000 to N500,000 while grown-up ones are sold
for N1m.”
Investigation revealed that the suspects took the SARS
operatives to Akwa-Ibom State where two children were rescued
and two other persons, suspected to be members of their gang,
were also arrested.
One of the suspects, Patience Okon said,
“Since their mothers cannot take care of their babies
because of lack of money, we normally arrange for
wealthy parents who have no children but in need of
children, to come and buy from us and take them
away. We issue receipts of payment to them, we don’t
steal the children as police are alleging but the
mothers of these children in most cases opt for their
children to be sold. Some of them don’t even know
the men who impregnate them while some would be
hiding from their parents. So we actually help them to
solve their problems”.
“We were just helping out some persons who are in
need. We are not human traffickers even though we
make money from it. The mothers of the babies
wanted to throw them away so we came to assist
these young girls so that they would not throw away
the babies or kill them.”
The Commissioner of Police in Delta State, Alkali Baba Usman
said that when they heard about the inter-state human and child
trafficking syndicate cell in Asaba, SARS operatives proactively
arrested the gang leader of the group, saying that the suspect
and her husband allegedly confessed to the crime and led the
officers to their different hideouts in Anambra, Akwa-Ibom and
Cross Rivers state.