The Police in Lagos have dragged two women before a special offences court in the state for allegedly kidnapping and selling a three-year-old child for N650,000.

Mercy Sampson and Stella Madueke were, on Tuesday, arraigned before Justice Oluwatoyin Taiwo of the Lagos State Special Offences Court on five counts bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping and obtaining money by false pretences.

They pleaded not guilty to the charges.

WuzupNigeria reports that the duo allegedly kidnapped the child during a church service at the Mountain of Fire and Miracle Ministries, Agege, and sold the girl to one Chikodi for N650,000.

The prosecutor, Joseph Eboseremen, further alleged that the defendants also fraudulently obtained the sum of N700,000 from one Magus Nwaigbo under the pretext of assisting in the adoption of a baby from an orphanage.

He said,

“On March 24, 2019, in the Igando area of Lagos State, the defendants did obtain the sum of N700,000 from one Magnus Nwaigbo under the pretext that they had a two-year-old girl from the Holy Infant Orphanage home for adoption, a presentation they knew to be false.”

Eboseremen noted that the offences were punishable under sections 2 and 3 of the Kidnapping Prohibition Laws of Lagos State 2017.

Justice Taiwo ordered the remand of the defendants in the correctional facility and adjourned the matter till March 18, 2020.