A couple of Ifeoma Ebony and her lover, Emmanuel Onyekwere, have been apprehended for child trafficking.
The duo plied their criminal trade across states such as Abia, Enugu, Edo and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, stealing children for sale.
Their modus operandi was to look for compounds where toddlers reside and rent an apartment there. Weeks after moving in, they would strike on their targets at any opportunity and flee with the kids, leaving their parents in sorrow and tears.
They had ready buyers – some of who either resold the children or ‘adopted’ them. For about four years, they raked in millions of naira in proceeds, selling a child for between N250,000 and N550,000.
It was business as usual for the lovers and members of the syndicate until recently when two children they stole in Tunga Maji and Gwagwa areas of Abuja blew the lid off their activities.
One of the parents of the Abuja children reported the incident to the police and operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team launched a manhunt for the traffickers.
The detectives led by DCP Abba Kyari arrested 12 suspects, including the lovers, and rescued six of the abducted children.
“The duo went around the country to steal children. They have middlemen, who bought from them and then sold to people in dire need of children. Some of the buyers arrested are Blessing Nwankwo, Chioma Nick and one Onwa,” a police source told City Round.
A parent identified only as Olobo told the police that Ebony and Onyekwere rented an apartment in his compound in Gwagwa and became close to his wife and a one-year-old baby.
He said one week after staying with them, Ebony who pretended to be assisting his wife took the baby out under the guise that she (Ebony) wanted to plait her hair in the neighbourhood.
“Before they knew what was happening, Ebony and her husband absconded with the little girl. The lovers were tracked to Asaba, Delta State. They confessed and led the operatives to arrest receivers of the stolen children, Nwankwo and Nick, who in turn sold the abducted children to people. Other suspects arrested are Onyinye Benjamin, Ngozi Okoli, Nwokocha Kalu and Esther Ihiediwa,” the source stated.
Recounting her escapades across the states, 32-year-old Ebony blamed her involvement in child abduction and trafficking to her inability to get a proper education.
The native of Enugu State said her parents married her off to an elderly man and denied her secondary school education.
She said, “My father married two wives and he couldn’t send me to school. He has many children he couldn’t take care of. I was married off at a young age and my husband died two years into our marriage. We had two children together.
“Things became difficult for me and my children after the death of my husband. I took my children to my mother in the village and travelled to Abuja.”
She explained that she went into prostitution in Abuja and after working for seven years, a friend advised her to relocate to Oba town in Anambra State if she wanted to make more money from sex work.
She said, “I took the advice and relocated. But one year into my stay, I met a woman known as Ogula in 2017. She asked me to follow her to her village in Benue State. When we got there, she stole a little girl and gave her to me.
“While I was leaving with the child, I was arrested by some security men and taken to prison where I spent six months. While in prison, I met one Ada who had finished serving her jail term and she gave me her number while she was leaving. I called her when I was released and she employed at her shop in Umuahia Abia State, where she sells drinks.
“One of her customers known as Onwa approached me and said he has contacts of people who could buy children between the ages of one and three.”
After her meeting Onwa, Ebony went into a full-blown child abduction and never looked back.
She said she connived with Ada’s brother, one Chibuzo, to steal a child and sell to Onwa who refused to pay them.
Ebony added, “Onwa contacted me three months later and pleaded for forgiveness. He promised to pay me N500,000 for any child between the ages of one and two.
“My boyfriend, Onyekwere, then went to his village and stole his sister’s two-year-old child and we contacted Onwa. This time we followed him to Enugu State where the child was sold to an old woman driving a Toyota Camry and she paid us N250,000.
“We went to Akuke area of Enugu and rented an apartment. We succeeded in stealing two children aged between two and four from a man known as Onyeka. We knew each other in Abuja.
“He introduced me to his wife and we became friends. I visited them regularly in their house and became familiar with their children. I studied their terrain for three months and when I had a chance, I made away with the two children and sold them to Onwa for 450,000 each.”
Ebony said she and Onyekwere relocated to Abuja where they stole two children sold to Nick for N300,000 each.
She said they left Abuja for Ipoba Hill area of Edo State and rented another apartment to scout for a victim.
“There, we stole a child belonging to a woman who was sick and could not pay proper attention to her child. The child used to come to our compound to play, so I stole the child and took her to Nick who paid us N300,000.
“We spent most of our proceeds on food and clothes. Before we were arrested, my boyfriend and I had decided to quit. One woman, Blessing Nwankwo, contacted us to buy five children aged between one and two years old. I charged her N2m and she paid instantly.
“Since we have decided to quit, Onyekwere and I used the money to rent a two-bedroom flat and furnished it. We removed our sim cards and Blessing couldn’t reach us anymore,” she stated.
Also speaking, Onyekwere 32, a native of Isialagwu North, Abia State, said he participated in the abduction of eight children, adding that he wanted to raise money to build a house for his mother.
He said, “I am a tailor and have yet to be married. It was Ebony who lured me into stealing little children. Things weren’t good for me and my family has no house in the village. She assured me that the business would fetch me money to build a house for my mother.
“I went to my village and stole my sister’s son, Victor and we sold him to an old woman in a church. I pretended as if I was praying when we got to the church and I didn’t want anyone to notice what we were doing because the boy looks so much like me. I was paid N250,000.
“I recruited one of my friends known as Aboy. When we moved to Enugu State, he stole three children, one from his village and two from Enugu, and we sold them for N900,000. I stole a total number of eight children.”
In her account, Nick, 46, said she lost her marriage of 22 years because she had no child with her estranged husband. She said she got pregnant for a man she met in Ghana, which led to a separation between her and her husband.
She said when her child grew up, he started asking for a sister, and she approached the child welfare office in Umuhaia, Abia State, to adopt a girl.
Nick explained that she met one Mummy Ohabiam who promised to link her to a syndicate that could help her get children.
“She told me the cost which I couldn’t afford. I then contacted one Mummy Indian Emeka, who had approached me earlier to buy two children. I bought two children from Ebony and sold them to mummy Indian for N800,000 and got N200,000 as my share. I dropped the idea of adopting a girl and started making money from the ‘business.’
“Ifeoma also sold four other children to me, which I sold to several people. I have returned three and have yet to get the last one. I am begging the police to have mercy on me. I will not do it again. All my colleagues in the ‘business’ have run away. Please have mercy on me,” she stated.
In her confession, a member of the syndicate, Nwankwo, a native of Abia State and nurse, said she went into buying and selling of babies through the wife of a relation who did not have a child for a long time.
Nwankwo said, “I contacted Nick who brought a one-year-old girl. We paid her N550,000, but I collected N800,000 from the man’s wife. Ebony introduced Ifeoma to me. I then contacted some of my relations and friends looking for children and they paid me N2m for five children. She disappeared after getting the money.”
Indian Kalu, 52, said she helped her sister to buy a child from Ebony.
“She brought a child to me in 2016 and I gave it to my sister who needed it and N550,000 was paid for the child. I collected N650,000. But in 2017, Ebony called again and said two girls were available for ‘adoption.’
“I contacted people who told me they needed children and took the girls to them. They paid Nick N550,000 each child, ” Kalu said.
Source: Punch
