Woman Claims Pastor Signed Trafficking Of 9 Children From Plateau To Rivers
A 40-year-old suspected child trafficker, Rebecca Nwachi is currently cooling her heels in the custody of the Enugu State Police Command after she was arrested by the Nigeria Army.
Nwachi, who specializes in moving children from Plateau State in North Central zone to River State in South-South zone, was arrested as part of the ongoing “Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1’’.
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In a statement issued on Tuesday in Enugu by the Deputy Director, Public Relations of 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Aliyu Yusuf, said a total of nine children, including four girls and five boys aged between two and 13 years, were recovered from the suspected child trafficker.
The statement read in part: “At about 6 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2020; troops of Sector 5 of Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1 deployed at Orba Check-point in Udenu council area of Enugu State (within Nsukka general area) intercepted above named woman with nine children.
“The trafficker was intercepted in a luxurious bus with registration number ANAMBRA NEN 429 ZD belonging to FG Onyenwe Company.
“The woman claimed she was taking the children from an orphanage in Jos, Plateau State to another orphanage in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
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“The woman produced a hand written document signed by a pastor, showing a list of the names of the children, as an official document to facilitate the transportation of the children.
“However, during the preliminary investigation, a family member of one of the children who was contacted revealed that the family was not aware of how one of the victims, named Joshua got to Nsukka.
“This was corroborated by other contacts that were thankful to Sector 5 army troops for intercepting the illegal trafficking,’’ the statement said.
According to the statement, the children, who were crying of hunger and claimed they had not eaten since yesterday, were consequently fed by troops with food.
“The suspected trafficker and the children have been handed over to Enugu State Police Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation before handing over to NAPTIP, for necessary action,’’ he added.
