The Spokesman for Lagos Police Command, CSP Chike Oti, confirmed the discovery of the children and arrest of the woman in a statement on Tuesday.
According to Oti, the Lagos State Police Command on Thursday, February 28, 2019, apprehended one Christiana Onuchukwu for stealing and keeping in her custody two children of different parents who were declared missing in 2014.
He said that luck ran out on the suspect when one of the abducted children, named Ikimot, 12, went to Denton Police Station and reported that she was taken away from her parents some years ago.
Oti said the child claimed she was handed over to a woman she now called ‘Mum’. Oti added that she mentioned her abductor’s address and asked the police to reunite her with her parents.
“Based on her complaint, the DPO in charge of Denton Police Station, CSP Saheed Quadri, led a team of detectives to No.1 Ogati Street, Fadeyi, Lagos, where the suspect was apprehended.
“When the suspect and her victim were debriefed, the child stated that she was seven years old when she started living with the suspect and that her present age is 12.
“She mentioned another little boy called Okashetu Musa as another victim of the suspect. Thus, the DPO dispatched a team of detectives to rescue the boy who was abducted when he was six and was now eleven years old.
“In his own account, the boy who could still speak Hausa, said he once lived in the Ebute Meta area of the state with his mother,” he said.
The image maker said that the leader of the Hausa community in Ebute Meta was invited to the station to help link the child with his parents.
According to Oti, the leader, after consultation with his community members claimed that the mother of the boy, a blind woman, had relocated to Katsina State having lost hope on the possibility of finding her child.
“Meanwhile, the children have been reunited with their parents, while the suspect was today (March 5, 2019) charged to Ebute Meta Magistrate’s Court 5 with conspiracy, abduction and child stealing”, Oti said
“The CP has directed the Divisional Police Officer to intensify efforts in ensuring that all the persons connected with the crime are arrested and prosecuted,” he said.
NAN
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