BY CHIDI NKWOPARA

If there is anything, apart from armed robbery, that has kept Imo people gasping for breath in the past two years, it is the spate of kidnapping in the land. This damnable development first reared its ugly head when militants in the Niger Delta Region claimed they were fighting to control the natural resources in their communities. Before long, the cancer spread to the South East geo-political zone and went beyond bounds.

Victims of kidnapping, who survived to tell the sordid tales of their experience, painted ugly pictures of what they passed through in the hands of their captors.

The list of those who died in their captors’ illicit custody is very long while some regained their freedom after paying varying sums of money, usually in millions of Naira. The families of some others parted with their money and still lost their loved ones to these hoodlums.

Mr. Ikwuazu and family

Midway into this kidnap saga, the perpetrators sadly veered into kidnapping innocent little children in Imo State. Since this sordid act started, some Catholic Churches became targets. They included but not limited to Saint Mulumba’s Catholic Parish, Owerri, Immaculate Conception Parish, Orji, and Saint Michael’s Parish, Amakohia.

Reports equally had it that some hospitals and maternity homes in some rural communities were raided by these miscreants and children stolen. The escalating crime not only put families in serious fear but also continued to embarrass the state government and the police.

The security agencies started re-strategising. Imo State government purchased and distributed patrol vans to all the security agencies operating in the state.

Traumatised parents bemoaned their fate. Churches raised prayer warriors and stormed the havens with prayers. Skeptics simply looked on, while the perpetrators of the dastardly crime continued to fine- tune their plots and smiled to banks with their ill-gotten wealth.

In all the cases of the stolen children, fingers were pointed to “a lady”. This recurring decimal of “a lady” remained a mystery to the police, the church and parents. She remained faceless until Sunday, December 11, 2011, when she tried her luck again at Emmanuel Anglican Church, Nekede, Owerri West local government area of the state.

On this day, luck was on the side of the Ezurike family of Umugweze, Nekede, Owerri West Local Council area of Imo State, when this same middle aged lady, who kidnapped their three children was nabbed by vigilant natives.

Vanguard Metro,VM gathered that the lucky children and their parents went to Emmanuel Anglican Church, Nekede, for Sunday service and only went out to buy their needs before the female kidnapper hypnotised them and took them away.

It was equally gathered that the kidnapper, whose name could not be ascertained at press time, had successfully boarded a commercial bus that was heading to Owerri before an alarm was raised.

“The commercial bus driver was picking passengers along the route until the father of the stolen children and commercial motorcycle riders blocked the bus at Number 4 Bus Stop”, a villager, who simply identified herself as Joy, told VM.

“The timely arrival of policemen from the State Police Headquarters, Owerri”, according to Joy, “saved the woman from unpleasant consequences”.

Narrating the incident to Vanguard Metro, the mother of the kidnapped children said: “The children went outside the church to have some refreshments. When they did not come back quickly, I became apprehensive. I saw my children in a bus that was driving off and I quickly raised alarm and people went after the vehicle”.

The police quickly swung into action and unlike the 18-year old girl that was earlier nabbed while trying to ferry two boys she kidnapped across the Oguta Lake, this lady started singing like a frightened bird. She quickly gave the name of a woman living in Enugu that was constantly receiving these stolen children.

Contacts were made with the Enugu woman and she quickly gave directives on how the children should be brought to Enugu. The police moved to Enugu with the suspect and behold she was waiting anxiously to take delivery of the babies. The police picked her up and moved her to Owerri.

With the woman in its net, the road to the recovery of the babies stolen from Owerri became clearer. As at the last count, about eight children stolen from some churches and communities in the state were recovered by the police.

The current development, according to a very competent police source, may have finally burst the child stealing syndicate that has troubled residents of the state for quite a while.

VM investigations revealed that the lucky children were recovered in Enugu and Anambra States, by a team of crack detectives from the Police Command, following credible information made available to them.

Some of the children, who are now reunited with their parents, include those kidnapped after attending children’s mass at Saint Mulumba’s Catholic Parish, Owerri.

All those who spoke to VM on the issue, commended the police for breaking the dreaded criminal gang that has kept parents sleepless in Imo. They appealed to security agencies to ensure that all the persons connected with the criminal act were promptly made to face the full weight of the law.

Police IG, Ringim

Celebrations galore

Meanwhile, it has been endless celebration for the families of Mr. and Mrs. Remigius Ikwuazu and Nze Romanus Amatalam, since they were reunited with their stolen children, three-year old Ugomma and one and a half year old Munachi and Uchechi respectively. The three children were stolen on their way back home after attending 7.30am mass at Saint Mulumba’s Catholic Church, Owerri.

Clutching her two children while narrating her experience to Vanguard Metro, Mrs. Perpetua Ikwuazu, said her husband hurriedly went to the Police Headquarters, Owerri, on hearing that some children had been recovered from their kidnappers but came back home disappointed.

“At about 8pm of the same day, the police came knocking on our door. They requested that we identify the baby in their patrol van and behold, it was Ugomma. We were disturbed that Munachi was not there”, Mrs. Ikwuazu said.

A very competent police source revealed that while Munachi was recovered at Enugu, Ugomma was traced to Onitsha, even as he said that the police was still working on the criminal gang.

Police may have succeeded in breaking the jinx but like in the infamous Otokoto case, the last may not have been heard about the stealing of babies in Owerri. A relation of mine that lives in Warri, Delta State, has since told me that any baby, no matter how legitimately adopted in the area, is now known as “Owerri baby”. When will this stigma end?