A major child trafficking syndicate that specialized in abducting and selling babies to Nigerians residing in the United States, Italy, and within the country has been dismantled by security operatives.
Among those arrested is a 50-year-old woman, Chioma Ibezim, who confessed to her involvement in the illegal trade.
Security forces arrested eight members of the syndicate, including two teachers, with six of them paraded before journalists. Investigations revealed that the syndicate operated by stealing children from various parts of the country and selling them to buyers both locally and internationally.
So far, five children have been rescued from different homes where they had been sold. However, tracing their biological parents has proven difficult, as some were abducted at infancy, with one reportedly taken at just two weeks old.
Speaking on the arrests, the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Operations, Zone 2 Command, DCP Ajao Adewale, explained that intelligence on the syndicate’s activities was received on January 8, 2025.
Following this, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Fayoade Adegoke, tasked the Zonal Anti-Corruption Unit, led by CSP Ngozi Braide, with cracking down on the operation. The suspects arrested include suppliers, middlemen, buyers, and caregivers who facilitated the illegal trade.
One of the victims, a one-year-old boy named Marvelous Obi, was stolen and sold to Chioma Ibezim when he was barely one week old.
She later resold him to a Nigerian couple residing in Italy, identified as Ken Obi and Marina Oluchi Appollous, who kept the baby in the care of Chinasa Echelibe, one of the syndicate’s caregivers.
Another child, three-year-old Promise Ifekwuna, was sold in 2021 by Sunday Okputu through Chioma Ibezim to a woman named Ngozi Ifekwuna, who claimed she paid ₦500,000 for the little boy.
A particularly disturbing case involved one-year-old Somtochukwu Onyemaechi, who was sold by his biological mother, 22-year-old Faith Sunday, in September 2024. Sunday admitted to selling her child for ₦1.5 million due to financial hardship.
The baby was trafficked through Chioma Ibezim and Sunday Okputu to an unknown buyer in Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos, before eventually being recovered on January 29, 2025, in Owerri, Imo State.
The child was found in the custody of Nwakuba Helen, who claimed she was a nanny hired by her younger sister, Caroline Enwerell, a Nigerian residing in California, USA. She admitted knowing the boy was purchased but still took him in.
Another rescued child, three-year-old Chibuzornma Onyemaechi, was also found in Helen’s care.
She confessed that the same sister in the USA had sent the child to her as a newborn. Meanwhile, six-year-old Praise Chukwudi Ibezim was found to have been purchased directly by the prime suspect, Chioma Ibezim, for ₦800,000 when he was just one week old in Mbaise, Imo State.
Further investigations revealed that Sunday Okputu, one of the syndicate’s key suppliers, was willing to go to any lengths to satisfy his customers. He reportedly had a history of abducting unattended children as soon as he received requests from Ibezim for a supply.
During interrogation, some of the arrested suspects admitted to selling the children to Nigerian buyers abroad and within the country.
Meanwhile, Faith Sunday, the biological mother who sold her child, blamed her actions on poverty. She explained that she was unmarried and unable to care for her baby, leading her to ask a relative for help in finding a buyer.
However, she later discovered that her child, whom she had sold for ₦800,000, was actually trafficked for ₦1.5 million.
Following the rescue operation, the children were handed over to the Lagos State Commissioner of Youth and Social Development, Mobolaji Abubakar, who expressed appreciation to the police.
He explained that the children would receive medical attention before undergoing a nine-stage process to determine their future. For the child whose mother sold him, Abubakar noted that the Ministry might consider handing him over to a responsible relative if one came forward. Otherwise, the government would take custody after a given timeframe.
In a related development, detectives from the Anambra State Police Command arrested a 32-year-old man, Joshua Simeon, who attempted to escape with a five-year-old girl, Nkemdilim Jacob. Simeon reportedly took the girl from her parents’ home in Umuota Village, Obosi, Idemili North Local Government Area, under the pretense of buying her something down the street but attempted to flee with her.
The Anambra State Police Public Relations Officer, Tochukwu Ikenga, confirmed that on February 1, 2025, police operatives from the Ogidi Area Command, acting on credible intelligence, intercepted and arrested the suspect while he was trying to escape.
He had already boarded a commercial vehicle to an undisclosed destination before he was apprehended. The suspect is currently undergoing interrogation to determine his motives.
