A 42-year-old farmer, Unogwu Agbese, who allegedly abducted his friend’s five-year-old son to sell off in Abuja, has been arrested by Benue state Police Command. Also, a 41-year-old man, Raphael Igye, who claimed to be a pastor, was arrested for alleged human trafficking.
Parading the suspects in Makurdi, the state Police Commissioner, Mr. Bashir Makama, who was represented by the Command’s Public Relations Officer, Assistant Superintendent Moses Yamu, said the suspects were arrested at Gboko and Ado Local Government areas, respectively.
According to the Police Commissioner, “the pastor picked the children from Chito in Ukum Local Government Area where he claimed he has a church, but was intercepted at Mkar in Gboko with the three teenagers, heading to Lagos, saying he was going to enroll them in school.
“The case of the abducted five-year-old was reported by his father, Emmanuel Edeh at Apa-Agila. He had reported that his son was, last week, abducted by the suspect, who took the boy to Abuja without his parents’ consent.
“However, he ran out of luck and was arrested and the child recovered from him unhurt.” Meanwhile, when asked why he abducted the child, Unogwu said: “The boy is my friend’s son. I actually took him to Abuja to sell him, but I couldn’t find any buyer or anyone that could connect me to a buyer. So I brought him back to the village and his parents arrested me.”