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The Army has arrested a suspected child trafficker, who specialises in moving children from Plateau State to River State.
The arrest was part of the ongoing “Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1”.
Deputy Director Public Relations of 82 Division Col. Aliyu Yusuf, in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu yesterday, said that nine children, including four girls and five boys aged between two and 13, were recovered from the suspect.
He gave the name of the trafficker as Mrs. Rebecca Nwachi, 40.
Yusuf said: “At about 6am on January 2, troops of Sector 5 of Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1 deployed in Orba checkpoint in Udenu council area of Enugu State (within Nsukka general area) intercepted the suspect with nine children.
“The trafficker was intercepted in a luxurious bus registered as 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.
“She produced a hand written document signed by a pastor, showing a list of the names of the children, as an official document to facilitate their transportation.
“However, during preliminary investigation, a family member of one of the children, who was contacted, said the family was not aware of how one of the victims, named Joshua, got to Nsukka.
“This was corroborated by other contacts, who were thankful to Sector 5 troops for intercepting the illegal trafficking.”
The army spokesman said that the children, who were crying of hunger and claimed they had “not eaten since yesterday”, were fed by troops with food.
“The suspected trafficker and the children have been handed over to the Enugu State Police Command’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation, after which they will be handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), for action,” he added.
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