Operatives of the Enugu State Police Command have arrested a 56-year-old woman, one Edith Ewulu, for the alleged abduction of a five-year-old girl, Felicia Godwin, in Emene, Enugu East Local Government Area of Enugu State.

A statement by Police Public Relations Officer Ebere Amaraizu, a Superintendent of Police, said that the suspect was arrested by operatives of the Emene Division of the Command in a new generation church during a thanksgiving and dedication service for the kidnapped child.

The kidnapping suspect, who hails from Enugu Agidi in Anambra State but resides in Enugu”s Emene suburb, was allegedly found with little Miss Felicia Godwin, who was reportedly snatched from where she was playing at a Emene compound on February the 6th.

The police spokesman said that luck ran out on the suspect when police operatives , working on gathered intelligence, swooped in on the church and arrested her with the kidnapped girl, whom she had renamed Gift Ewulu – claiming her as a daughter.

The suspect, Amaraizu said, told operatives investigating the matter that she had bought the little girl from one Chioma who claimed to be running a social home in Aba, Abia State, for four hundred and seventy thousand naira (about $1,300).

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“According to the suspect, she bought the baby on February 7, 2019 from the seller at a renowned hospital in Umuahia, which convinced her that the business as genuine, and never knowing the child was stolen from the mother at Emene in Enugu. And that she had taken the child to her church for thanksgiving before operatives swooped in on her and arrested her with the child,” Amaraizu said.

Meanwhile, the police spokesman said, the mother of the child, one Philomena Godwin, had informed the police that her daughter was abducted on February the 6th at her compound where she was playing.

Amaraizu quoted the mother as saying, “I was not feeling well and decided to have some sleep while my daughter was outside playing, and when I woke up I couldn’t see her. After several searches… I reported it to the police.”

The mother of the missing child thanked the police for the swift action leading to the recovery of her daughter and the arrest of her alleged buyer.

“The recovered baby has been reunited with the parents while the suspect is helping the police in their investigation, which has commenced in full-scale,” the police spokesman said.