The Nigerian Army has rescued nine children who are kidnap victims after arresting a suspected child trafficker in Enugu state.
The suspect was said to have specialised in moving children kidnapped from Plateau State in North Central zone to Rivers State in South-South zone of Nigeria.
Army said the arrest was part of the ongoing โExercise Atilogwu Udo 1โโ.
According to a statement issued Tuesday in Enugu by Col. Aliyu Yusuf, the Deputy Director, Public Relations of 82 Division of the Nigerian Army.
Yusuf said that a total of nine children, made up of four girls and five boys aged between two and 13 years, were recovered from the suspected child trafficker.
He gave the name of the child trafficker as Rebecca Nwachi, 40.
โAt about 6 a.m. on Jan. 2, 2020; troops of Sector 5 of Exercise Atilogwu Udo 1 deployed at Orba Check-point in Udenu council area of Enugu State (within Nsukka general area) intercepted above-named woman with nine children.
โThe trafficker was intercepted in a luxurious bus with registration number ANAMBRA NEN 429 ZD belonging to FG Onyenwe Company.
โThe woman claimed she was taking the children from an orphanage in Jos, Plateau State to another orphanage in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
โThe woman produced a handwritten document signed by a pastor, showing a list of the names of the children, as an official document to facilitate the transportation of the children.
โHowever, during the preliminary investigation, a family member of one of the children who was contacted revealed that the family was not aware of how one of the victims, named Joshua got to Nsukka.
โThis was corroborated by other contacts that were thankful to Sector 5 army troops for intercepting the illegal trafficking,โโ he said.
The army spokesman said that the children, who were crying of hunger and claimed they had not eaten since yesterday, were consequently fed by the troops.
โThe suspected trafficker and the children have been handed over to Enugu State Police Commandโs Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for further investigation before handing them to NAPTIP, for necessary action,โโ he added.
