The Delta State Police Command has apprehended two women linked to a child-stealing syndicate and successfully rescued a three-day-old baby in the process.
According to reports, on October 1, 2024, Independence Day, a tricycle rider, who chose to remain anonymous, alerted the police about suspicious activity he observed.
The rider reported that four women had boarded his tricycle. When two of them got off at the Effurun roundabout, one of the women handed a newborn baby to the other two who remained in the vehicle. He overheard one of them say, “The balance has been paid,” instructing the others to notify her upon reaching their destination.
Suspecting something was amiss, the tricycle rider redirected the remaining two women—later identified as Tessi Ikechukwu and Lauretta Akomen—to the Ekpan Police Station.
Further investigations by the police revealed that Akomen, 38, had bought the baby for ₦2 million from a traditional home in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where teenage girls are kept, impregnated, and subsequently have their babies sold to individuals desperate for children.
Akomen admitted to taking a drug that made her appear pregnant to facilitate the scheme. She later guided the police to the home of one Gloria, who acted as an intermediary between her and the traditional home.
Both women are currently in police custody, while efforts to apprehend additional accomplices are ongoing.
In response to the incident, Delta State Commissioner of Police, CP Olufemi Abaniwonda, praised the tricycle rider for his vigilance and patriotic act, encouraging the public to follow his example.