Police rescue 2 children 5 years after abduction

Detectives attached to the Lagos State Police Command have rescued two children who were abducted five years ago. The children, who are now 12 and 11, were stolen in 2014 but had been found in the Fadeyi area of Lagos. EkoTrust gathered that the children were rescued last Thursday, and the police had reunited one […]

Detectives attached to the Lagos State Police Command have rescued two children who were abducted five years ago.

The children, who are now 12 and 11, were stolen in 2014 but had been found in the Fadeyi area of Lagos.

EkoTrust gathered that the children were rescued last Thursday, and the police had reunited one of them with her family.

One of the suspects who allegedly abducted the children, identified simply as Christiana, has been arrested for stealing and keeping in her custody the two children.

The Lagos State police spokesman, Chief Superintendent Chike Oti, said, “Luck ran out on the said Christiana when one of the abducted children, Ikimot, 12, came to the Denton police station at Ebute Meta and reported that she was taken away from her parents some years ago and handed over to a woman she now calls mother. She mentioned her abductor’s address and asked the police to reunite her with her parents.

“Based on her complaint, the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the Denton police station, Chief Superintendent Saheed Quadri, led a team of detectives to No.1 Ogati Street, Fadeyi, where the suspect was apprehended.

“When the suspect and her victim were debriefed, the child stated that she was seven years old when she started living with the suspect and that her present age is 12. She mentioned another little boy, Okashetu Musa, as another victim of the suspect. Thus, the DPO dispatched a team of detectives to rescue the boy, who was abducted when he was six, but is now 11 years old.

“In his own account, the boy, who could still speak Hausa, said he once lived in the Ebute Meta area of the state with his mother. The leader of the Hausa community in Ebute Meta was invited to the station to help link the child to his parents. The leader, after consultation with his subjects, claimed that the mother of the boy, a blind woman, had relocated to Kastina State having lost hope on the possibility of finding her child.”

Meanwhile, the children have been reunited with their parents, while the suspect has been charged to the Ebute Meta magistrate court 5 with conspiracy, abduction and child stealing.

The Commissioner of Police, Zubairu Muazu, has directed the Divisional Police Officer to intensify efforts in ensuring that all the persons connected with the crime were arrested and prosecuted.