Police rescue 6 children from child-trafficking syndicate in Niger

Thursday, November 20, 2025 - The Niger State Police Command has rescued six children from the grip of a child-stealing and human-trafficking syndicate operating in the state.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, made this disclosure in a statement in Minna, noting that the rescue operations were carried out in two separate incidents, which led to the arrest of four suspects and the recovery of the children.

He recalled that the first incident occurred on November 5, 2025, when one Victoria Ebunoha Chukwumezie, a 40-year-old from Nyanya, Abuja, was arrested at Diko Junction with three children aged between two and three years, who had been abducted from the Lambata area of Niger State.

According to him, preliminary investigation revealed that Chukwumezie had committed similar offences in Tafa, Suleja, and Madalla.

The police PRO stated that, based on the outcome of the findings, further investigation led the police to the Kurudu area of Abuja on November 11,:2025, where two more suspects, Leonard Ugochukwu, 55, and Ngozi Ugochukwu, 45, a married couple, were arrested.

Abiodun revealed that the couple were found with two suspected trafficked children, Goodnews Sunday, 4, and Ummikari Bello, 3, at their residence in the Orozo area of Kurudu, Abuja.

“During interrogation, the suspects revealed that they acquired the children through the intervention of one Okpalaye Mathew Ibrahim, who works in a hospital in the same area. They claimed to have paid a total of N2.3m for the two children, including a registration fee of N100,000,” he stated.

The suspects are in custody, and investigative efforts are ongoing to apprehend other individuals connected to the case and to recover other trafficked children.

The state Police spokesman further disclosed that, in a separate incident on November 16, 2025, police operatives attached to Tafa Division rescued four children from one Usman Adamu, 40, of Sabon-Wuse, Tafa, who was found with the children around Angwan-Katampe.

The children — Khalid Ilyasu, 7; Sadiq Ilyasu, 11; Ahmed Ilyasu, 5; and Sadiq Idris, 5 — were allegedly abducted from the Sabon-Wuse area of the state.

“Usman Adamu confessed that a yet-to-be-identified woman had requested him to get the children for her, and he would be rewarded,” Abiodun stated.

The suspect is currently under investigation with the SCID, and efforts are underway to identify and arrest the woman.