Members of a child trafficking syndicate arrested by the operatives of Ondo State Police Command have confessed that they usually sell each stolen child at the rate of N500,000 to their receivers.
The suspects, 43-year-old as Lukman Isiaka, Abosede Olanipekun, 23; and Mrs Sabira Izuorah, 68, were arrested by the police while in possession of 14 babies and toddlers stolen from Akure, Ondo State and Ilesa in Osun State.
The children were recovered from Izuorah who claimed to operate an orphanage in Ihiala in Anambra State.
Among the children recovered from the suspects are four three-week old babies, two weeks old, two months old, and ten other children.
Izuorah who was a former Director from the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs in Anambra State, admitted to having received the children from the other suspects.
Speaking with journalists at the Ondo State Police headquarters in Akure, Izuorah said, “I have a registered orphanage. I took care of the children. The name of my orphanage is Clarion Children’s Care and Reforms Initiatives, and it started full operation in 2020.
“Lukman and his wife brought a total of 11 children to me. I don’t pay them; it is the adoptive parents who pay them. The adoptive parents don’t pay me; they give us food items and supplies.
“I stopped Lukman and his wife from bringing children for me in November 2024. All the children were no longer with me, but I went to recover them from their adoptive parents. It didn’t start with me, and it will not end with me.”
However, Lukman who claimed to be a bricklayer said he had been involved in the business since 2023.
He said Izuorah introduced him and his wife to the illicit trade when he left Ondo State to work in Anambra.
While saying Izuorah always paid him N500,000 per child, which she in turn sold to her prospective buyers for N1 million and above, Lukman said, “I have been stealing children since 2023.
“I have given a total of 11 children to Izuorah. The method my wife and I use to steal the children is when we are going, and we see any child roaming about, we call them and say we will buy soft drinks and biscuits for them.
“After telling them that, they will follow us. After walking for about 10 minutes, we will board a bike to the park, where we will board a vehicle to Anambra State to give Izuorah the children.
“She normally gives us N500,000 for each child that we bring to her. I met Izuorah when we went to Anambra to work. I’m a bricklayer. She was the one who introduced me to the business after training me, and since then, I have been giving her children.
“I don’t know anything about the two-month-old and four-month-old babies. She is the one who can say where she got them from. I only operate in Akure, Ondo State, and Ilesa, Osun State.”
Parading the suspects, the state Commissioner of Police, Wilfred Afolabi, stated that intelligence-led policing made the operation a success when Lukman and Abosede were traced to Ottah village in Edo State, where they were arrested.
Afolabi said the arrested couple led the police operatives to Anambra State, where Izuorah was arrested and moved to Akure.
“A case of a missing child was reported at Okuta Elerin-Nla Division in Akure. A complainant reported that Abosede deceived her by claiming she wanted to buy biscuits for the baby.
“Meanwhile, Lukman distracted the complainant by engaging her in a personal conversation and requested that she follow him to Olukayode Plaza in the market to get a mobile phone. On getting to the market area, he abandoned her and left.
“When the complainant returned to the shop, she discovered that her child was missing, with no trace of Abosede, the supposed sister of the man she followed to the market; thus, a report was made at the Division.
“During interrogation, the suspects admitted to abducting the child and other children from Ondo and Osun States and selling them to Sabira Izuorah, aged 62 years, in Ihiala, Anambra State, at the rate of One Million Naira (₦1,000,000) per child,” the CP narrated.
The police boss added, “The following babies were found in her custody: Baby Favour (female, 3 weeks old), Baby Chidera (female, 2 weeks old), Baby Chinyere (female, 2 months and 5 days old), and Baby Uzoma (male, 1 week old).”
The CP added that on January 14, 2025, 10 children sold by Mrs Izuorah were rescued from various locations.
He stressed that their parents identified their children which include Dauda Alarape, male, 3½ years; Babalola David, male, 4 years; Asaolu Pamilerin, 7 years; Ayomide Abass, male, 2 years who was stolen from Orita-Obele in Akure; Komolafe Oluwasekemi, female, 4 years who was stolen from Igado in Ilesha and Adedeji Olalekan, male, 6½ years.
Others are Ahmed Abdulrasaq, male, 5½ years, stolen from Ibodi Town, Osun State; Mary Wuraola, female, 2 years, stolen from Ilesha, Osun State; Mubarak Akinwunmi, male, 6 years, stolen from Osogbo, Osun State; and an unknown child whose name and parents have not been identified but stolen from Osun State.
He added that some children are currently on the missing list while efforts are ongoing to locate and rescue them.