Woman arrested with 4 suspected stolen children in Suleja

Police in Suleja, Niger State, have arrested an elderly woman found in possession of four children suspected to have been stolen from their families. The arrest, which took place on Thursday, followed complaints by residents of the Unguwar Oyus area of Suleja, where the suspect resides. A community leader, Muhammad Yawa, told our reporter in […]

Police in Suleja, Niger State, have arrested an elderly woman found in possession of four children suspected to have been stolen from their families.
The arrest, which took place on Thursday, followed complaints by residents of the Unguwar Oyus area of Suleja, where the suspect resides.
A community leader, Muhammad Yawa, told our reporter in a telephone interview that three of the children were initially discovered in the woman’s house, while the fourth child was later traced to another resident in the town.
According to him, the resident claimed that the child had been handed over to him by the suspect.
Yawa said the four children, believed to have been taken from Jalingo, the Taraba State capital, were first taken alongside the suspect to the Niger State Social Welfare Office in Suleja for profiling before being transferred to the ‘A’ Division Police Station for further investigation.
He disclosed that police operatives later returned to the woman’s residence with her and allegedly discovered various items suspected to be used for ritual activities in one of the rooms.
According to him, the house was also found in an unsanitary condition and filled with offensive odours.
“The woman was subsequently transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Niger State Police Command in Minna for further investigation, while the children remain under the care and monitoring of the police at the divisional level,” he said.
Another source in the community, who requested anonymity, alleged that although the woman is originally from the South-East, she reportedly attracted visitors from different ethnic backgrounds.
The source further claimed that some internet fraud suspects, popularly known as “Yahoo boys”, were among those who frequently visited her residence, particularly at night.
Efforts to obtain comments from the Suleja Area Commander, ACP Muhammad Sani Musa, were unsuccessful as calls made to his phone were not answered at the time of filing this report.
However, a police officer confirmed the incident, saying the matter is under investigation.