Police apprehend aunt who sold 2-year-old niece for N100,000

A Thirty-year-old woman, Mrs. Elizabeth Elom from Umuoru Ezzangbo in Ohaukwu local government area of Ebonyi State has been arrested by police for allegedly stealing and selling a two-year old girl, Favour Onwe for the sum of N100, 000.


While parading the woman at the police headquarters Abakaliki yesterday, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Sylvester Igbo, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) said on July 16, 2012 the parents of the child, Mr. Aloysius 62 and Mrs. Ngozi Onwe 48 raised the alarm of the missing of the little girl without knowing that it was the aunt of the child who stole and sold her.

He said that one Nkurika Okonkwo who is still at large bought the child for N100, 000 from one Izuchukwu Okeke from Akwa South in Anambra State, saying that woman who bought her took to her heels when she got wind that police were looking for her.

According to him, “The sister of the father of the child was discovered to be the person that stole the child and took her to Akwa in Anambra State where she had contact with the man who connected her to the woman who bought the child.

“The man who connected her to the woman is one Izuchukwu Okeke from Akwa South in Anambra State. So, the person that was alleged to have bought the child is called Nkurika Okonkwo, though the woman is at large. When the woman got wind of police presence in the matter, she abandoned the child and took to her heels and the police came to recover the child.

“The police have been trying to track the woman but it has not yielded any result, we are still looking for the woman. So when the child was brought here, the parent came and identified the child as their child. This happened at Ohaukwu but was later transfered to the headquarters”, explained.

On how the child was recovered, the PPRO said: “The person that stole the child is an aunt to the child and when the child was missing, she was worried and was looking for the child, until we got information that she was the last person seen with the child.

When the police mounted pressure and interrogated her, she confessed to the crime saying she sold the child at the sum of N100, 000. That is how police got to know the mystery surrounding the missing child.