Police arrest 71-year-old pastor, wife for buying baby for N500,000
A
71- year old retired pastor of a pentecostal church in Abriba, Ohafia Local
Government Area of Abia State, Rev. Chima Egbochiogum, and his wife, Ugo, have
been arrested for an alleged illegal adoption of a baby.
Commissioner
of Police, Joshak Habila, who paraded the couple in Umuahia, alongside other
suspects in connection with the incident, alleged they bought a stolen baby.
The
police boss said the pastor and his wife were nabbed following a confession by
a notorious child trafficker who was arrested last month for human trafficking.
According
to him, the child trafficker, identified simply as Ekwutosi, stole an
11-month-old baby girl belonging to a 21- year -old pregnant mother, who he had
pretended to assist.
He
said Ekwutosi had approached the young woman, who had a baby out of wedlock,
with promise that he would secure a job opportunity for her.
The
excited woman was said to have left her baby in the custody of Ekwotosi when
she went to buy food for her.
“But
by the time the mother returned, Ekwutosi had disappeared with the baby,” the
police commissioner said.
According
to Habila, the suspect was later intercepted by the police at Owerrinta when he
was allegedly trafficking pregnant girls to Port Harcourt.
He
said the suspect confessed to his criminal activities including the stealing of
the 11- month old baby during interrogations.
His
confession led to the arrest of the pastor who allegedly adopted the stolen
baby.
Habila
said the suspect sold the baby at the cost of N500, 000 to the wife of the
pastor.
But
later in an interview with journalists, the pastor said he was not aware that
the baby adopted by his wife was a stolen child.
The
retired cleric had married his second wife following the death of his first
wife, who had born children to him.
He
said he was innocent of the crime as he thought the adoption followed due
process.
Meanwhile,
his second wife, who had yet to have a baby of her own, decided to adopt a
baby.
According
to the woman, she was contacted by one Maria Mba, who told her that one of her
relations, a teenager, wanted to give out a baby she had out of wedlock.
She
said that the baby was paid for at the premises of the Federal Medical Centre
Umuahia where it was allegedly delivered to her. She also claimed that she did
not know that the baby was stolen.
Meanwhile,
there was a mild drama when the notorious trafficker, Ekwutosi said he did not
receive up to N500,000 in the transaction claiming that the intermediary, Mba
short-changed him.
But
Mba said she only kept back N100,000 as her commission , insisting that she
gave N400,000 to Ekwutosi.
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