Metro

Trafficking: NAPTIP arrests fake reverend sister with 38 children

A 40-year-old alleged fake Revered Sister, one Ikejimba Maryvianney (also known as ‘Oluch’), has been arrested by the Edo Zonal Command of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) over the trafficking of 38 children in Delta State.

The suspect and one another, Chidera, now at large, were handed over the children in the guise of giving them better care in their two orphanage homes.

It was learned that the children were handed over to the suspects by their parents at a farm community in Enugu-Awka camp by Monastery Ilah, Delta State.

Ikejimba Maryvianney was reportedly arrested by the NAPTIP following a tip-off, while she apparently came to the farm community to recruit more children.

When contacted, the NAPTIP Zonal Commander in Benin, Barr. Nduka Nwanwrnne, who confirmed the incident, said the suspect is in their custody.

He said the suspect claimed to be trained in Ghana as a Rev. sister, while their headquarters are in the Philippines.

“She came to meet the parents and persuade them to allow their children to follow them to their orphanage homes and that they would be given better care”, he said

Nwanwenne said on January 28, the suspect was given 12 children, while on February 19, she was given 26 children, bringing the total number of children in her custody to 38 and the children are all minors

According to him, the suspect and her accomplices are human traffickers who are posing as Revered. Sisters from a convent in Owerri are recruiting children for human trafficking.

“To convince the parents when they were handed over the first batch of the children, he said the suspects asked two of the parents to follow them to know the two orphanage homes the children would stay’.

Nwanwenne said 32 of the children have been recovered by the agency, while six who are between the ages of three, four and six years old are yet to be recovered

“The suspect, when arrested, claimed that three of the six children were in Badagry while the other three were in Ogun but later said they had been adopted by people in the East.

He said the agency is still on the trail of getting the victims as well as arresting the suspect at large and that the suspect would be charged to Court

He warned parents to be vigilant and never to trust anybody with their kids without asking fundamental questions.

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