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WEDNESDAY , NOVEMBER 15 , 2017 ... City , Crime , Courts 08185225745 , 08055126196

Army arrests women for buying baby for N300,000

• Egbufurum ; the baby
Friday Olokor , Jos

Two women were on Tuesday arrested by the Special Military Task Force , codenamed Operation Safe Haven , for allegedly trafficking a fourday-old baby girl .

The suspects – Doris Egbufurum , 39 ; and Esther James , 40 – were said to have been arrested with the baby at Babale Gwam checkpoint , a boundary between Plateau and Bauchi states .
The Commander of Sector 1 , Colonel Musa Etsu-Ndagi , who paraded the suspects , explained that they were arrested around 7.15pm on Monday by operatives of OPSH at the checkpoint after the duo boarded a commercial vehicle in Bauchi .
He said , “ A passenger in the vehicle raised the alarm that she suspected that the baby with the two women was stolen because neither of them appeared to be her mother . The troops arrested them and investigation revealed that they bought the baby girl from one Mr . Abuna in Bauchi State for N300,000 .”
He said the baby was in the military ’ s custody , adding that she was under the care of medical officers .
Etsu-Ndagi said the OPSH was making efforts to hand over the baby to the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons , an agency of the Federal Ministry of Justice .
He said , “ NAPTIP does not have an office in Plateau State ; their closest office is in Makurdi , Benue State .”
One of the suspects , Egbufurum , who lived in Imo State and worked as a nurse with the Peoples Clinic in Bauchi , said she was taking the baby to Lagos after she bought her from a customer in Bauchi .
“ I was taking the baby to a woman who has been married for a long time without a child . She sent N320,000 to me for the job . I bought the baby for N300,000 and wanted to use the N20,000 balance for transport from Bauchi to Lagos ,” She said .
When contacted , the spokesperson for OPSH , Captain Umar Adams , said the suspects would be handed over to NAPTIP .
He said , “ Our troops intercepted a vehicle
Afeez Hanafi

Protest has greeted the admission of three suspected kidnappers to bail by an Ogun Magistrate ’ s Court , sitting in the Owode Egba area of the state .

The defendants – Habibat Oyesanya , 52 ; Olubunmi Tajudeen , 36 and 40-yearold Morenike Shittu – were granted bail in the sum of N200,000 with two sureties each in like sum by a presiding magistrate , Mrs . I . O . Abudu .
They had been arrested for allegedly abducting a four-yearold girl in Ibadan , Oyo State , and whisked her to Mosafote community , Ibafo , Ogun State .
Our correspondent had reported that Shittu was taking the girl from the community on October 15 , 2017 , when residents intercepted her and she was subsequently handed over to the police .
She led the police to apprehend Oyesanya and Tajudeen .
While being paraded at the Ogun State Police Command headquarters in Eleweran , Abeokuta , on October 24 , Tajudeen had told journalists that she sold her three-yearold daughter to Oyesanya for N280,000 so she could offset
Photos : Friday Olokor
conveying some passengers . The passengers in the vehicle raised the alarm and our troops discovered two women travelling with a baby suspected to have been stolen . They were arrested and taken to our headquarters .
“ They were coming from Bauchi . So , in the course of investigation , they confessed that they bought the baby . They will be handed over to NAPTIP for prosecution . Efforts are being made to trace the place where they bought the baby .”

Man impersonates

Samson Folarin

The Zone 2 Police Command , Onikan , Lagos State , has arrested a 37-year-old man , Emmanuel Ebuzoma , for allegedly defrauding relatives and friends of some National Assembly members in a police recruitment scam .

The Delta State indigene was alleged to have obtained a pre-registered SIM card with the name of a former Inspector-General of Police and Chairman of the Police Service Commission , Dr Mike Okiro .
Ebuzoma was reported to have obtained telephone numbers of senators , members of the House of Representatives and governors , whom he sent bulk text messages to , requesting contacts of four people they wanted to help into the Nigeria Police Force .
Some of the government functionaries were said to have sent numbers of their relatives and friends to the suspect , who immediately contacted them , demanding various sums of money for registration into the Force .
The Zone 2 Police Public Relations Officer , SP Dolapo Badmos , said the suspect had five account numbers into which the applicants paid between N25,000 and N50,000 .
She said , “ The Chairman of the PSC , Dr Mike Okiro , got complaints from some members of the public that a syndicate was using his name to defraud people . He became worried and wrote a petition to the Assistant Inspector-General of Police , Zone 2 , Adamu Ibrahim .
“ The petition was forwarded to the Public Complaints Bureau and police operatives swung into action . Detectives tracked the suspect to Onitsha , Anambra State , where he was arrested despite his cleverness .
“ In the course of investigation , we discovered that he had accomplices , who assisted him in getting account numbers of innocent residents , into which applicants paid various sums of money . He never used his own account number so as not to be caught .
“ Again , when you dial the phone number he uses to call through True Caller , a telephone application , it will bring out the name of Dr Mike Okiro . We discovered he had help from some agents of a telecommunications company .
“ Actually , he started the criminal act in October 2016 and from our checks on all the account numbers , he has realised about N4.5m . Most of his victims came from senators and House of Representatives members .”
The suspect , who confessed to the crime , said he had only made N400,000 , adding that he got the money from those referred to him by some members of the House of Representatives .
He said , “ I was at home one day when I decided to browse on my telephone . I saw the phone numbers of some senators , governors and House of Representatives members on the Internet . I decided to try if I could make money from them .
“ I sent bulk text messages to them . I sent to six House of Representatives members , telling them that I was Mike Okiro and that they should send me four names of their candidates for police recruitment .
“ When I sent the messages , four of them responded . They sent four names each with the telephone numbers of the applicants . I immediately sent text messages to those people , asking them to go to a bank and pay for their training kits and afterwards report at Abuja . I collected between N25,000 to N30,000 from each person .
“ A girl supplied me

Community kicks as court a debt .

She also confessed to have abducted the four-year-old girl in Bodija , Ibadan , on the demand of Oyesanya .
On Monday , November 13 , they were arraigned on three counts bordering on kidnapping . Their pleas were not taken .
The charges read in part , “ That you , Habibat Oyesanya , Olubunmi Tajudeen , Morenike Shittu and others at large , on October 15 , 2017 at about 12pm at Mosafote , Ibafo , in
• The suspects the Owode Egba Magisterial District , did conspire among yourselves and kidnapped a four-year-old girl , thereby committing an offence punishable under Section 23 ( 1 ), Special Provision Laws of Ogun State , 2016 .
“ That you , Habibat Oyesanya and Morenike Shittu , on the same date , time and place , in the aforementioned magisterial district , did harbour the girl , knowing full well she was kidnapped by one Olubunmi Tajudeen , thereby committing an offence contrary to and punishable under Section 29 , Special Provision Laws of Ogun State .”
Meanwhile , residents of Mosafote have questioned the decision of the court for releasing the suspects on bail .
The residents ’ grievance was contained in a petition addressed by their lawyer to the Chief Judge , Ogun State High Court , the state Attorney- General , the Director of Public Prosecutions and the state Commissioner of Police .
Photo : File
In the petition , dated November 13 , 2017 and acknowledged by the DPP , the lawyer , Folami Fashe of Folami Fashe & Co , requested that the bail be revoked .
It read in part , “ The suspects ’ arrest came about due to the vigilance of the community members who , upon suspicion that a kidnapped victim was kept in a house within the community , alerted the police . After investigation , the police charged the matter to court vide charge no MOO / 368C / 2017 .
“ The suspects were arraigned before Mrs . I . O . Abudu at the Owode-Egba Chief Magistrate ’ s Court . No plea was taken . That notwithstanding , the magistrate proceeded to grant them bail . We were reliably informed that the case file has been duplicated and sent to your ( DPP ’ s ) office for legal advice .
“ While we appreciate the need for presumption of innocence of the suspects , we believe that the magistrate court acted in bad faith in releasing the suspects on bail . We , therefore , request your urgent action to ensure that the suspects are re-arrested and