Pastor, wife,others accused of child trafficking in Abia State

On Tuesday Abia State Police Command, paraded a 71-
year-old man, said to be a retired pastor, for allegedly
stealing a one year-old baby.
The suspect was arrested alongside his wife by the police,
following an alarm said to have been raised by the mother
of the baby.
Abia State Police Commissioner, Mr. Joshak Habila, who
paraded the suspects, said the arrests were part of the
achievements of his command for the month of August.
He said a month ago, a 21-year-old pregnant mother
reported that she lost her 11 months old baby to a
supposed friend under the pretence of offering help to her.
The police boss said luck, however, ran out on the
supposed friend, when the anti- robbery squad of the
command intercepted him at Owerrinta and arrested him for
allegedly trafficking pregnant girls to Port Harcourt, Rivers
State capital.
He said the arrest led to the discovery of a child, who was
previously stolen in Aba and allegedly sold to the retired
pastors' wife, who was said to have kept the deal away
from her husband.
According to Habila, the suspect sold the baby for
N500,000 to the wife of a pastor who allegedly lied to her
husband that she went through the normal process of
adoption for the baby.
The wife of the pastor, the commissioner explained,
admitted to have paid for the baby in the premises of
Federal Medical Centre, FMC, in Umuahia, through her
friend, one Maria Mba, said to a senior civil servant in
Bende Local Government Area.
But her pastor husband denied knowledge of the illegal
adoption of the baby, saying he had been requesting from
his wife the adoption documents which he claimed he never
saw till date.
The other suspects, Maria Mba and Ekwutosi, also
explained their role in the transaction, with Ekwutosi saying
he connected Maria to the illegal deal.
He claimed that Mba approached him and requested for
baby girl which he arranged for and procured, after which
he invited them to the FMC where the deal was finally
sealed.
Though Mba said she collected the money and gave to
Ekwutosi N400,000 and kept N100,000 as part of her share
of the deal, Ekwutosi denied receiving the money from her
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