A 29-year-old woman from Amasiri, Ebonyi State, Miss Chidimma Okorie, yesterday, stunned people at the headquarters of the Anambra State Police Command in Awka, when she admitted that she had already sold her unborn child for N100,000.
The mother of five, who said she had never been married, also admitted stealing two three years old boys at Umuoji in Idemili North Local Government Area of Anambra State, with the connivance of two medical doctors operating private hospitals in the area.
The two medical doctors, Emmanuel Tobechukwu and Cosmos Ugorji, who the police described as accomplices in child trafficking, were also helping the police in their investigations.
Chidimma said she had sold two children since she was introduced into the “business” by a woman she identified as an Evangelist.
According to her: “I sold the two children for N50,000 each. I am pregnant and the madam (Evangelist) said when I deliver my baby, she would buy it for N100,000. I have five children, but I am not married. I have not sold any of my children, but I have sold two children, starting with the child of a pastor last month.”
She said the two medical doctors were helping her in the trafficking because they had a ready market through a nurse, still at large.
She alleged that the Evangelist brought her along with two other girls from Ebonyi State to Anambra State and took them to a shrine in Asaba where, according to her, she collected their blood samples for a ritual so that they would not reveal to anybody the type of business they were into.
We just did blood tests—DOCTORS
Dr Ugorji, however, insisted that he had neither seen her before, nor done any transaction with her.
He said one nurse, now at large, was coming to his hospital, located at Awada, Obosi, near Onitsha, for blood tests, adding that he was surprised police stormed his hospital and started talking about child trafficking.
On his part, Dr Tobechukwu, who said his hospital was at Nkpor, near Onitsha, admitted that a woman brought Chidimma to his hospital for blood test.
He said: “This woman (Chidimma) has a medical condition, which I would not want to discuss here. She was brought by one woman, who said she was a nurse. I did not document their addresses because we did not do any treatment. What we did was blood test and they left.”
The doctor, who said he was from Enugu State, said he had nothing to do with child trafficking.
Anambra Police Command Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Nkeiru Nwode, said the suspects were arrested on Wednesday, after a tip-off.
She said Chidimma had come to Idoma village and stolen the boys, but luck ran out on her as people raised alarm and she was apprehended.
The PPRO said before the latest incident, Chidimma had stolen a child belonging to a pastor in the area.
Nwode said the doctors were accomplices, who were linking the traffickers to ready markets.
by ROTMANLUV 2023-07-08, 17:34
