The Imo State Police Command has apprehended two individuals in separate child trafficking cases and declined a ₦1 million bribe offered by one of the suspects.
According to a press release by the Command’s spokesperson, DSP Henry Okoye, the first arrest occurred on February 4, 2025. Officers from the State Criminal Investigation Department detained 32-year-old Confidence Odoh of Umuanyo Eziobodo, Owerri West LGA.
Odoh is accused of abducting her former neighbor’s three-year-old son, Nzubechi Udodiri, on February 1, 2025, while he was playing near his home. The child has since been safely reunited with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Udodiri Michael.
In a separate incident on February 21, 2025, operatives from the Safer Highway Unit, during a routine stop-and-search along the Owerri-Aba expressway, arrested 45-year-old Eze Chika of Obiokwara Umualoma, Ideato North LGA.
Chika was found with a four-year-old child suspected to have been trafficked. Initially claiming the child was hers, she later confessed to purchasing the child from a trafficking syndicate in Aba for ₦1.8 million. In an attempt to avoid arrest, Chika offered the officers a ₦1 million bribe, which they refused. Efforts are ongoing to locate the child’s biological parents and to apprehend other members of the trafficking network.
DSP Okoye reaffirmed the Command’s commitment to combating child trafficking and related crimes in the state.
He urged parents and guardians to remain vigilant, monitor their children’s activities closely, and report any suspicious behavior to law enforcement agencies promptly.
