Operatives of the Zone 2 Police Command, Onikan, Lagos, have rescued five children and apprehended a notorious syndicate specializing in child stealing and trafficking.
The Assistant Inspector General (AIG) of Police in charge of Zone 2, Mr. Adegoke Fayoade, confirmed the development to journalists in Lagos on Monday, revealing that the rescued children—four boys and a girl—are between the ages of one and six.
According to Fayoade, the police received intelligence on January 8 about the syndicate’s operations. “The intelligence revealed that the syndicate specialises in buying and selling newborn babies, toddlers, as well as children of various ages,” he said.
He explained that the gang operated through three key players: a supplier who sourced the children, a middleman who facilitated the transactions, and a caregiver who housed the children before handing them over to buyers.
A police team, led by CSP Ngozi Braide, swooped in on the traffickers and rescued the children, whose identities had already been altered to erase traces of their origins.
“The one-year-old boy was sold when he was just a week old, and the buyer resold him to another couple who currently reside in Italy but left him in the care of the syndicate’s caregiver,” Fayoade stated.
He added that a three-year-old boy had been sold in 2021 for N500,000, while another one-year-old was sold by his biological mother in September 2024 for N1.5 million to an unidentified buyer residing in Alausa, Ikeja. The child was later found in Owerri.
“The little boy was in the custody of a supposed nanny, who claimed she was employed by her younger sister living in California, USA. The same nanny also had a three-year-old girl, whom she claimed was brought to her as a newborn by her sister in the U.S.,” he explained.
The six-year-old boy among the rescued victims was reportedly bought for N800,000 in Mbaise, Imo State, by the prime suspect when he was just a week old.
Fayoade described the syndicate as a well-organized network that rarely missed its targets but noted that luck ran out on them during their latest operation. He assured that the police would continue their crackdown on child traffickers to ensure justice for the victims.
