Police arrest 4 over alleged baby theft

Nigeria Police Force

The Lagos State Police Command says it has arrested four persons, including a couple, over the alleged theft of a one-month-old baby.
The spokesperson for the police in Lagos, Bala Elkana, confirmed the arrest to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday, saying that the suspects were arrested on Sunday by Anthony Village Police Division led by the DPO, Patricia Amadin.
Mr Elkana said investigations into the case had commenced and the four suspects were in custody.
“The baby was recovered from them,” he said.
A very reliable police source had earlier told NAN that two persons, 41-year-old male and 30-year-old female, were arrested alongside five other passengers in a Toyota Sienna car coming from the eastern part of Nigeria at about 2 a.m. on Sunday.
NAN gathered that operatives from Anthony Village Division intercepted the Sienna car at Anthony Oke pindown point while trying to enforce the lockdown order in Lagos and arrested the car, driver and passengers.
“The police discovered that among the passengers, there was a young man and a woman travelling together with the one-month-old baby. They claimed they had travelled all through the night from Orlu, Imo, to Lagos.
“Seeing that none of them was exempted from the Presidential lockdown order, all occupants of the vehicle were immediately arrested and taken to the station.
“Upon interrogation, the young man and woman with the baby claimed that a childless man and his wife here in Lagos had paid N150,000 for the said baby and that they themselves were the courier being used to deliver the baby.
“However, the facts of their testimonies are distorted and inconsistent. The police suspected that the baby was stolen. About 2.45 a.m. same day, the alleged baby-buyer couple also came to the station in an attempt to retrieve the baby,” the source said.
NAN further learnt that the couple who came for the baby were detained, while the police were trying to locate the real parents of the child.
The source said the police recovered the birth certificate of the baby which showed she was born on March 23, 2020, outside Lagos.
“For the paternity of the baby, the maternity where the baby was supposedly born inputted the names of the couple buying the baby who did not leave Lagos as the father and mother of the child.
“This shows that there is a syndicate somewhere as this is a reflection of an organised crime,” the source added.(NAN)