A 39 years old woman, Mrs Mercy Momoh, who allegedly stole a two-month-old baby from its mother, Mrs Funmilayo Sunday, at the Ekiti State Secretariat, Ado Ekiti on Friday, has been arrested in the state capital while reportedly attempting to escape the town with the boy.
Sources said the woman was apprehended on Saturday night at Odo Aremu, Oke Ori Omi area of Ado Ekiti and taken to police station alongside the baby.
A source said that upon investigation,
“The woman claimed that she hailed from Benin, Edo State, but resided in Lagos. She said that she stole the baby because she was in dire need of a male child.
“She claimed that due to her inability to bear a male child, her husband had married another woman and might send her packing.”
Momoh was alleged to have tricked the nursing mother to the state secretariat on Friday pretending to be assisting her to benefit in the relief materials being given by the state government to flood victims.
The nursing mother and trader in soup ingredients had while narrating her ordeal at the state secretariat on Friday, alleged that the abductor had, before that day, been patronizing her consistently at Oja-Oba Market in the state capital.
“The woman (Momoh) who had become a regular customer had invited me this morning to the Secretariat so that her husband, who she said works there, will facilitate the relief materials for me. At the secretariat, she pretended to be waiting for someone, having entered one or two offices under the pretence of making some arrangements.
“She later took my baby and phone from me and asked me to go and buy recharge cards for her and before I came back, she had disappeared with my baby,” she had alleged.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, Caleb Ikechukwu, who confirmed the arrest to journalists in Ado Ekiti on Sunday, said “investigation is still ongoing to unravel the proper situation.
More details will come to reveal what really transpired.
“It is confirmed that the woman who stole two-month-old baby has been arrested by the operatives of the Ekiti Police Command.
“The suspect is Mercy Momoh, a 39-year-old lady from Edo State. She was apprehended through intelligence made available to the police and would be prosecuted after conclusion of investigation.
“The Nigeria Police would no longer reveal to the public the means through which the arrest of criminals was effected because these days, criminals take advantage of such information.
“And acting on that information on how they can be arrested they now devise other means of carrying-out their nefarious act without being arrested.
“All I can tell you is that the woman that stole the infant baby has been arrested through intelligence gathering and investigation is still ongoing
“We call on members of the public to be careful when dealing with strangers. The suspect was apparently nice to the victim, that was why she got the baby easily. Citizens should not be carried away by kind strangers”, Ikechukwu said.
Punch Newspaper
