The police in Anambra State say they have arrested the head of a notorious child trafficking syndicate in the state.
Tochukwu Ikenga, the police spokesperson in Anambra, disclosed this in a statement on Tuesday.
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Mr Ikenga, a superintendent of police, said the suspect, Ngozi Muotuanya, a 63-year-old woman, was arrested on Monday by operatives attached to Oba Divisional Police Headquarters.
He said the suspect is an indigene of Anambra State and that her arrest was in response to a tip-off about her alleged criminal activities in the state.
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The spokesperson said the operation followed frequent “mysterious disappearance of children” in Anambra State, especially in Oba and surrounding communities.
“Preliminary investigations revealed that sometime in 2024, the suspect allegedly stole a male child, aged about one year, in Minna, Niger State, and sold him to an unsuspecting member of the public in Anambra State.
The said suspect later resold the child to another person. However, on 4th August 2025, the receiver, upon realising that the child had been stolen, returned him to the principal suspect.
“The suspect, in turn, allegedly abandoned the child at an unascertained church in Minna, where he was rescued by the leader of the Igbo Community in Minna,” Mr Ikenga narrated.
“Meanwhile, the Command has relayed information about the custodian of the Child in Minna to the Niger State Police Command for possible recovery and reunification with his parents and other necessary action.”
The police spokesperson said the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Awka for investigation and prosecution.
Prohibited in Nigeria
Nigeria in 2015 enacted the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act which outlawed all acts of human trafficking in the country.
The Act prescribes imprisonment of not less than five years or a fine of not less than N1 million or both as general punishment for human trafficking.
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However, the Act also prescribes imprisonment of not less than seven years or a fine of not less than N1 million or both as punishment for child trafficking.
Several persons have been convicted of child trafficking across the country.
The Kano State High Court, in July 2021, sentenced a man, Paul Owne, to 91 years in prison for kidnapping and trafficking of children in the state, for sale in Anambra State.
A Federal High Court in Port-Harcourt, River State, in 2019, sentenced three persons to a combined 12 years imprisonment for trafficking a two-year-old male child and one other child.
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