Two men, Kenneth Ofeke and Stephen Obi, who sold three siblings for N500, 000 in Port Harcourt, Rivers state capital have been arrested by men of the Edo State Police Command.
Names of the siblings were given as Wisdom, Kenneth and Sunny.
They were said to have been taken from Edo State and sold in Port Harcourt to a woman who later resold them to other persons in Lagos State.
The police are yet to determine whether the children are still alive.
Kenneth, aged 26, claimed that he led his supposed girlfriend to sell the children because they were unwell and he could not cater for them.
He told newsmen that he discussed sales of the children with person he claimed to be their mother.
According to him, “I hail from Ebonyi State. We are from the same state. I have not paid her bride price. She gave birth to twins. She was not okay after delivery. The children were not well. My parents are not alive so I sought to look for help. I called one aunty in Port Harcourt.
“We took the children to Port Harcourt. The aunty made some inquiry. I gave her the children to take care of and she gave me N500, 000.
“We didn’t discuss price. She just gave me the money. I am a Welder. There is no help and the children are not well. Their mother was my girlfriend. She had Wisdom for a man before I met her. She took in after we departed but said the man she had the twins for does not care for her.”
Stephen, aged 48, said he only provided his Goodness and Mercy Orphanage home for the children to be adopted and not sold.
He said he collected N50, 000 as logistics per child.
His words, “I have not sold any child. I helped to adopt for parents looking for children. I collect N50, 000 registration fee for logistics. It was the police that told me here that Kenneth is not the father of the children. I told the women to demonstrate she is the mother and she breastfed the children. They said they wanted a home that can take care of the children. We followed due process and give them affidavit and consent agreement. The people that adopted the children reside in Lagos State.”
The police described Kenneth as a serial child trafficker who had earlier sold a yet to be identified baby for N1m in Port Harcourt.
It said it was mother of the children that complained about her missing children.
State Police Commissioner, Damallam Abubakar, said the suspects would soon be charged to court.
