A woman arrested in connection with an alleged child trafficking operation in Abuja has admitted receiving ₦250,000 for each child she brought, saying she was told the money was compensation.
The suspect made the admission during an interview with journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, in which she also acknowledged returning to the activity after an earlier arrest and imprisonment.
Asked why she returned to the business, the woman said she had been persuaded that the arrangement was intended to help children found roaming the streets by providing them with shelter and education.
“She said it’s not that she’s helping, that government is she have government approval, that is only children that is roaming around the street that don’t have help, that she have school, they can train them for school,” she said.
The interviewer challenged her account, reminding her that she had earlier identified a woman known as Madam Nkechi as the person who introduced her to the operation.
The suspect subsequently clarified that she was the one who introduced the woman, but confirmed that the woman later contacted her and suggested that she return to the business.
When asked how much she received for each child, she replied, “She gave me 250. 250,000 naira.”
The interviewer confronted her with an earlier claim that ₦1.5m was involved. The suspect explained that the amount was to be shared among several people, including the woman she identified as her contact.
She also maintained that she was told the payment was compensation, although she could not explain what the compensation was for when the interviewer questioned her.
Asked to consider how she would feel if someone received compensation for taking her own child, the suspect confirmed that she was also a mother.
The woman further disclosed that she had been arrested the previous year after taking a child. According to her, the matter went to court several times, but the complainant did not appear.
She said she was eventually allowed to go home after the child was recovered from her.
“That was the first assignment she gave me,” the suspect said.
Her account forms part of an ongoing investigation by the Federal Capital Territory Police Command into alleged child abduction and trafficking in Abuja.
The police paraded suspects linked to the investigation on Tuesday, following further arrests and the recovery of a five-year-old girl whose biological family has yet to be identified.
Police have appealed to members of the public to help locate the child’s relatives, with claims of parentage requiring verification.
Some suspects reportedly alleged that they were recruited by a woman known as Madam Nkechi and promised payments for bringing children described to them as orphans or children found on the streets.
Some also claimed they encountered the recruiter at a church in Lugbe, Abuja.
However, the allegations linking the recruitment to the church have not been independently verified, and no evidence has been presented to establish that the church as an institution was involved. (Punch)
