Child trafficking: Pastor, 2 nurses, 14 others arrested

Seventeen per­sons includ­ing a pastor of one of the new generation churches have been arrested by operatives of the De­partment of State Se­curity (DSS), Anambra State Command for child trafficking and kidnapping.

The suspects who also in­cluded an evangelist and two nurses bowed in shame as they were paraded yesterday at the DSS state headquar­ters, Awka.

Raiding the suspects’ hide out, the DSS had rescued three children: three-year-old Chinonso Oriuwa, two-year-old Chidera Abiara and his seven-month-old sister Chi­nasa Abiara all of who were taken away from their par­ents by the suspects.
Out of the 17 arrested suspects, three are males; Pastor Chinuru Martins from Umuahia in Abia State, Solo­mon Loveday Nwadinobi from Umuahia and Chiko Chima Ogu from Obowu in Imo state.
The females are, Nnena Ogbonna Nwachukwu from Bende in Abia state, Eu­nice Tochukwu Uwakwe from Obowu, Glory Nnen­naya Okwara, a nurse from Arochukwu, Felicia Ebeh (Mbaise) and Esther Eleanya (Abiriba).
Others are, Ifeoma Iwu (Obowu), Anurika Theophi­lus, Osisioma in Abia state, Evangelist Adora Nwaneri, from Orlu in Imo state, Loveth Nwankwo (Isiala Ngwa in Abia) and Comfort Charity Ononuju.
Speaking to newsmen while parading the suspects, the State Director of DSS, Mr. Alex Okeiyi, stated that in recent times there had been rampant cases of miss­ing children noting that many churches and their pastors were involved in the busi­ness, which he said has be­come a source of worry to both the society and security agencies.
He said, “This is beyond child trafficking, it is pure kidnap and they will be handed over to the relevant authorities for further action”
Okeiyi explained that the 17 persons arrested were made up of some members of the syndicate and buy­ers of the children, stressing that the operation was carried out by his command in col­laboration with the Abia state command of the Service and men of the 144 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Asa in Abia state.
He further explained that Nnenna Nwachukwu who is a neighbor to the parents of two of the children was al­leged to have masterminded the kidnap of Chidera and Chinasa Abiara from their mother Chinonso on Sep­tember 2, 2014 at Uli in Ihi­ala local government area of Anambra state.
The mother of the children was alleged to have been in­jected with a substance with her legs and hands tied, thus making her oblivious of the incident.
Narrating what happened Okeiyi said, “After that, the children were taken to the kingpin of the syndicate, in Umuahia, Abia State, Eunice Uwakwe and then to Aba where Chidera was sold to a nurse Felicia Ebeh at the rate of N300, 000. Ebeh in turn sold him to Enugu-based Solomon Nwadinobi a trader, at the rate of N670, 000.
“On the other hand, in the same Aba, Chinasa was sold to a female buyer from Port Harcourt, Rivers State, at the rate of N650, 000 out of which she paid N550, 000 on the spot.
“Chinonso Oriuwa was kidnapped from St. Joseph’s Catholic Church Amakama, Umuahia by the Uwakwe-led syndicate on 26th Octo­ber, 2014 and sold to another Aba-based nurse, Glory Ok­wara, who hitherto operated a spurious motherless babies home, Divine Mercy. The price was N470, 000 and Okwara in turn, sold him to Esther Eleanya at the rate of N600, 000.
“Chiko Chima Ogu, a boy­friend to Eunice Uwakwe who often harbours the kid­napped children is usually paid commission, depend­ing on the rates of purchase, while Anurika Theophilus conducts HIV tests on the babies brought to the mother­less babies home.”