Four suspects made up of three females and one male have been arraigned before a court in Gombe for allegedly abducting 12 children who were recently repatriated to the state.
The suspected child traffickers were arraigned by the Gombe State Police Command on Monday after which the state Commissioner of Police, Maikudi Shehu told newsmen that the suspects were arrested in collaboration with Anambra state Police Command.
He said that the children were ‘stolen’ from different locations across the state sometimes in 2017 and the suspects have been on the run since the incident happened.
According to him, the male suspect Bala Shaukali sold two of his children to Nkechi Odulenye who is also a suspect while some of the children were sold in Asaba, Delta State based on the information they got from the suspects.
The Commissioner, however, said that he cannot guaranty people that the 12 children recovered from the suspects were all from Gombe state but he knew that among the children one of them recognized his father who came to the headquarters to check his missing child.
In his own, Secretary of the Amalgamation of parents in Gombe State, Ibrahim Ardo, who lost their children through abduction and child trafficking in Gombe State since 2019 said that they have reported the disappearances of no fewer than 20 children to the Police Command to help them trace their children.
He also confirmed seeing one of the suspects, Hauwa Usman in his house on the day his daughter was abducted.
Gombe state Commissioner for Internal Security and Ethical Reorientation, Mr Dauda Batavia, who was part of the briefing said that Gombe State Government played a critical role in rescuing the abducted children by providing the logistics that resulted in the arrests of the suspects.
He, however, warned the public against patronizing illegal parks and also drew the attention of parents against sending their little children on errands especially at night.
The State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs Naomi JJ Awak, on her own, called on parents to always be aware of their children’s whereabouts particularly at odd times and places to avoid exposing them to dangers of abduction or kidnapping.
While Speaking to Newsmen, one of the suspects, Bala Shaukali denied selling his children but instead, he admitted that he gave them out because he wanted them to be trained properly to have moral.
Another of the female suspects, Hauwa Usman also a suspect admitted that she has been abducting children across the country selling Males at N300, 000 while Female children go for the sum of N250,000.
Also speaking, 54 years old Nkechi Odunleye denied the allegation but admitted that she was buying the children at N250,000 for females and N300,000 for males.
She, however, explained that she is training them at her Orphanage which was registered with Anambra state Ministry of Women Affairs and out of the children she bought from them, she sold seven in Asaba, Delta State at the cost of N750,000 to some foster parents.
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