Kidnappers sell boys for N450,000, girls N150,000

BY PETER OKUTU
ABAKALIKI — UNIDENTIFIED persons, weekend, kidnapped a three-year-old boy, Ejike Emmanuel, at Akaeze in Ivo Local Government Area of the state.

Vanguard gathered that the boy was abducted in front of his parent’s compound at Obulo-Iyioji village in Akaeze by two suspected kidnappers, a man and woman, who disguised as customers to the mother of the victim, Mrs Nnennaya Emmanuel.

Narrating her ordeal, Mrs Emmanuel said: “I was closing my akara (bean cake) business for the day and dropped Ejike with his four-year-old sister, Nkiruka, and crossed over to the other side of the road to keep the bench I used for the business.

“When I came back, my son was nowhere to be found. I only saw Nkiruka crying and pointing her finger at some people on a motorcycle.”

In his account, the father, Mr Anyim Emmanuel, expressed disbelief that his child could ever be kidnapped on such an ever busy road and called on security agencies to help secure the release of his son.

It was, however, learnt that the parents of the victim raised alarm which attracted some villagers who quickly organised a search party to locate the boy’s whereabouts but all efforts proved abortive as the kidnappers had disappeared.

Police rescue two kidnapped children

In a related development, two of the eight children kidnapped between December last year and early January at Ishiagu in the same local government have been found.

Police sources noted that the two children were rescued in Owerri, ImoState, with the aid of members of the Criminal Investigation Department of Imo State Police Command, adding that they were found in the custody of a woman who allegedly bought them from the kidnappers for N600, 000.

According to the source, the woman, whose name could not be immediately ascertained, was said to have paid N450,000 for the male child, while the female child was sold to her  for N150,000.

Meanwhile, Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officers, DSP Sylvester Igbo, who confirmed both incidents, said he was waiting for a formal report from the Divisional Police Officers in charge of the Ivo LGA before briefing journalists.

He, however, said the Police had arrested a suspect (names withheld) in connection with the kidnap of little Ejike Emmanuel, stressing that the Police was determined to rid the state of kidnappers.