From Tony Osauzo, Benin
The long arm of the law has caught up with an 88-year old woman, who allegedly abducted a six-year old girl in Benin City.
The suspect was said to have been arrested by operatives of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons. The victim, identified as Success, was allegedly kidnapped around Upper Sakponba in September, in Oredo Local Government Area and trafficked to Onitsha, Anambra State, where the suspect, said to be from Asaba, in Delta State, allegedly purchased her for over N500,000. But, in a twist of fate, Success was said to have recalled her father’s telephone number and called him through her abductor’s mobile phone, to inform him of her ordeal before NAPTIP was called in.
Confirming the arrest, NAPTIP spokesman for Edo State, Mr. Nduka Nwanwene said the victim had been rescued and currently under the shelter of the agency.
“The girl was trafficked to Onitsha into an orphanage home, where an 88-year-old woman from Asaba in Delta State, purchased her. “She was taken to Asaba. But the girl was able to remember the father’s phone number, written on the wall of their house. The father is a bricklayer,” Nwanwene said. He said the suspect had been granted bail, but would soon be arraigned to face trial after investigations and added, “we are still trying to track some other persons connected with this, because we understand that the man that actually started the whole thing has relocated from that neighbourhood.”
Nwawene, who decried the prevalence of trafficking in the country, urged parents to remain watchful and monitor the movement of their little children and wards.