Immigration Arrests 62 Years Old Woman Trafficking Four Day Old Baby (Details)

“My officers on duty got alert when an elderly woman was in possession of an infant under the age of one week, asked to be allowed to get baby food from luggage she had already checked in. It became suspicious when they saw and elderly woman without the mother carrying the baby. She was invited to the immigration office in the airport, where it was realized she was trafficking the baby.
“I want to appeal to parents to be on the watch out for their children so they don’t fall in to the hands of conmen and women who may want to lure them. What has happened shows that the NIS and its personnel are really positioned to ensure that we crush human trafficking in all the different places we work. This shows diligence on the part of our personnel. They were vigilant and committed and were able to identify that they crime was being perpetrated. We would ensure that people who commit such crime are brought to book,”

“What the woman and Ifeanyi said is false. I did not agree to give my baby to anyone to take to Lagos, where I would join them later. I was tricked. When I had this pregnancy I did not have a place to stay and I was sleeping outside the church. So one morning I saw this man, Ifeanyi, and he asked me what happened and I explained what happened and he told me to come and stay with him until I put to bed and after that I would take my baby home. I accepted and stayed with him. And he told me that a woman is looking for a wife to her and I said but I am pregnant already and he said no problem. Later on when I saw the man, who was an imbecile, I declined the offer. They told me the woman has another son that would marry me. But when I thought about it, I said no, that I don’t want to marry anybody again.
“I stayed with him until the day I gave birth and the woman came and I asked who she was and he said she was my mother in law. That same day she wanted to take my baby but I did not accept. Even the women where I gave birth did not accept. So after we stayed until Friday, we blessed the child and I told them I wanted to go back to my place and I packed my things and this woman collected the baby from and we got into a cab. I sat in front and two of them were behind. I noticed through the side mirror that he gave some money to Ifeanyi. I was watching them trying to understand what was happening. They started using their dialect, Igbo, to speak and I was wondering what was going on. When we got to where I was to stop and go down with my baby, they did not stop there. They drove me somewhere stopped and asked me to go down. I asked of my baby and they said I should wait for them that they want to buy something somewhere and come back with the baby. I went down and they left. They did not come back. I started crying. The next thing this man rushed and came back and I asked him where my baby was. He took to the market and bought me a phone and bag. He took me and dropped me off in one healing home and gave me N2000 to eat. I just dropped the money and was waiting for the sun to go down so I will go and report to the police with the money. I was still there when Ifeanyi rushed again to me, with his wife this time, and told me that my baby was going to Lagos with that woman who would take good care of her and when the baby grew to two years, I would go and visit her. This was not what we agreed. The man then told me that we should go to the airport and if they ask me anything I should say she is my mother in law. Initially I agreed but later on I said no, that she was not my mother in law. That is how we got here.”