The police in Imo State have arrested four female ex-inmates of the Port Harcourt prison for kidnapping a five-year-old girl, Chinagorom Ndukwe, and reportedly selling her for N400,000.
The suspects were arrested in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by operatives of the Scorpion Squad of the command, who acted on an intelligence information.
The suspects are Chiamaka Ukeje (22), Sandra Ezuka (26), Ruth Solomon (41), Joy Edum (45).
Parading the suspects and others for various crimes ranging from kidnapping, child trafficking, armed robbery and cult-related activities on Thursday, the state Commissioner of Police, Chris Ezike, said the four suspected traffickers had made confessional statements.
The CP said that the child had been recovered from the buyer, Edum, who resides at Rumwara Obiakpo in Rivers State. According to him, the suspects would be charged to court at the end of investigations.
Ezike said, “The suspects, who are all residents of Rivers State, have made confessional statements to the police. The suspects also stated that they all met at the Federal Prisons, Port Harcourt, Rivers State The child has been recovered and reunited with her family.”
The prime suspect, Chiamaka, said she kidnapped the child in order to punish the father of the girl.
She said that her buyer agreed to pay N400,000 for the child, but she had yet to collect the money before the police rounded them up .
Chiamaka said that her father and the father of the child were having problems and kidnapping the child was her own way of getting back at him.
Also paraded was a personnel of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps in Imo State, Gloria Ogbonna, and her husband, Chukwuma Ogbenna, for allegedly selling arms and ammunition to a kidnapping gang in the state.
Ezike said that investigation into the criminal activities of a runaway police corporal, Collins Ezenwa, popularly known as E-Money, who was later shot dead for his involvement in kidnapping, revealed that the NSCDC officer and her husband were allegedly supplying guns and bullets to the gang.
“The beneficiaries of the proceeds of the criminal activities of the gang are being investigated. All persons remotely, directly or indirectly connected to this gang are advised to report to the police immediately,” Ezike said.
The husband of the NSCDC official though admitted to being a gun-runner but denied selling weapons to the dreaded gang.
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