Khadijah Shehu Abdulkareem
AWKA – The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a 63-year-old woman, identified as Ngozi Muotuanya, for her alleged involvement in inter-state child trafficking.
According to a statement issued on Wednesday by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Tochukwu Ikenga, the suspect was apprehended by operatives attached to the Oba Division on August 11 following credible intelligence.
The arrest, police say, is part of ongoing efforts to investigate a series of mysterious child disappearances in Oba and surrounding communities.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that sometime in 2024, the suspect allegedly stole a one-year-old male child in Minna, Niger State, and sold him to an unsuspecting buyer in Anambra,” Ikenga said.
He further explained that the child was later resold to another individual. However, on August 4, the second buyer, upon discovering that the child had been stolen, returned him to the suspect. The suspect allegedly abandoned the child at an unidentified church in Minna, where he was eventually rescued by the leader of the Igbo community in the area.
The Anambra Police Command has since contacted the Niger State Police Command to trace the child’s biological parents, facilitate his recovery, and reunite him with his family.
Ikenga added that Muotuanya will be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Awka for further investigation and prosecution.