Lagos police operatives have rescued five children from a child trafficking syndicate that specializes in buying and selling newborns and toddlers. The children, aged between one and six years, were saved after a police operation led by the Zone 2 Command, Onikan, Lagos.
Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG) Adegoke Fayoade confirmed the development on Monday, revealing that the syndicate had been operating a sophisticated network for trading children.
According to the AIG, intelligence reports received on January 8 exposed the syndicate’s activities. “The syndicate is led by three persons. One person supplies the children, another acts as a middleman, and the third is responsible for caring for them before they are handed over to buyers,” he explained.
Investigations revealed that the traffickers changed the victims’ identities immediately after selling them to new families, making it difficult to track them.
“The one-year-old boy we rescued had been sold when he was just one week old. The buyer later resold him to a couple currently living in Italy, but the boy was left in the care of the syndicate’s caregiver,” Fayoade said.
The traffickers sold another one-year-old boy for ₦1.5 million in September 2024. The police eventually recovered him on January 28 in Owerri, Imo State. “The boy was in the care of a nanny who claimed she had been hired by her sister residing in California, USA,” Fayoade added.
A three-year-old boy had been sold in 2021 for ₦500,000, while a six-year-old boy was bought as a newborn for ₦800,000 in Mbaise, Imo State, by the syndicate’s prime suspect.
The traffickers operated with precision and rarely failed in their operations, Fayoade noted. “This syndicate had a strong network and hardly missed its targets, but they ran out of luck this time,” he said.
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The police also discovered that traffickers in the network worked closely to erase traces of the children’s origins. “They always change the children’s identities immediately after the transaction is completed,” he added.
The police, led by CSP Ngozi Braide, are continuing their investigations to dismantle the entire trafficking network. Fayoade assured the public that those behind the crime would face the full weight of the law.
“We are committed to ensuring that justice is served. We will not allow criminals to prey on innocent children,” he stated.
Meanwhile, the rescued children have been placed under protective custody as authorities work to reunite them with their biological families.