Stolen Babies Reunited With Parents In Imo

Their joy knew no bounds as the family of Mr and Mrs Daniel Duruji as
well as 24 years old Vivien Iwuji reunited with their 2 week old
babies who were kidnapped few hours after they were born.

While presenting the babies back to their parents at the Imo State
Police Command Headquarters in Owerri, the Imo State capital, the
state police commissioner, Abdulmajid Ali, vowed that the Imo State
Police Command would not rest until the issue of child stealing and
child trafficking were brought to its barest minimal.

The Imo police boss said that three suspects had been arrested in
connection to the incident and they are presently cooling their feet
in the police cell as investigations are ongoing.

While narrating the incidence, the head of the anti-human trafficking
unit of the Imo police command, Mrs Elizabeth Okosun, said the police
were able to recover one of the babies after a tip-off by a commercial
tricycle rider who suspected the shady behaviour of the suspects when
they were about travelling with the baby to another state.

Vivien Iwuji , a 24 year old student, said that she was deceived by
her sister-in-law that a family friend will take care of her baby
after delivery not knowing she had the intention of selling her baby.

The Imo Police commission appealed to religious and community leaders
to furnish the police with adequate information if any woman or family
without a history of a recent pregnancy was seen with a newborn baby.

Two hundred years after the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave
trade, the trafficking of African children continues unabated. This is
one of the most horrific violations of a child's right. Trafficking
can be defined as "the recruitment, transportation, transfer,
harboring or receipt of a child for the purpose of exploitation".
Reasons for trafficking children include: sexual exploitation, forced
labour and/or slavery, domestic servitude, forced marriages, illegal
adoptions, and even forced organ removal or human sacrifice.

Nigeria acts as a source, transit and destination country for
trafficking children to Europe, the Middle East and other countries
throughout Africa. UNICEF has estimated that over 1.2 million children
worldwide are trafficked each year. The highest rates of child
trafficking in Nigeria are found in the Niger Delta region, according
to research by NAPTIP, the Nigerian Anti-Trafficking Agency.

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