Ebonyi police break up child-trafficking ring, recover three children

The Ebonyi State Police Command says it has broken up a child-trafficking syndicate operating across the South-East and recovered three abducted children, Nigerian Tribune reports.

Police spokesperson SP Joshua Ukandu said the case began with a May 2026 report by a woman who said her two children, aged five months and 11 years, were taken after she was lured to Awgu, Enugu State, on the pretext of marriage. Four suspects were arrested on 14 August after another woman grew suspicious of a similar approach and alerted police.

Further arrests followed in Okigwe, Imo State, and Port Harcourt, Rivers State. Police allege that one recovered child had been sold for N2.5 million, and that a woman in Port Harcourt paid N2.5 million in July for a document claiming she had legally adopted a baby boy. Two social welfare officers in Obowo LGA, Imo State, were also arrested.

Police are still searching for an 11-year-old child. Commissioner of Police Hope Urunwa Okafor said everyone linked to the cases would face the law, and the command urged people seeking to adopt or foster children to go through the proper government agencies.