The Niger State Police Command has successfully rescued six children from the hands of a child-trafficking syndicate operating in the state.

According to the command’s Public Relations Officer, SP Wasiu Abiodun, the rescue operations occurred in two separate incidents, resulting in the arrest of four suspects and the recovery of the children.

The first incident took place on November 5, 2025, when Victoria Ebunoha Chukwumezie, 40, from Nyanya, Abuja, was apprehended at Diko Junction with three children aged between two and three years who had been abducted from the Lambata area of Niger State. Preliminary investigations revealed that Chukwumezie had been involved in similar offences in Tafa, Suleja, and Madalla.

Further investigations led police to the Kurudu area of Abuja on November 11, 2025, where a married couple, Leonard Ugochukwu (55) and Ngozi Ugochukwu (45), were arrested with two children, Goodnews Sunday (4) and Ummikari Bello (3). The suspects confessed that they obtained the children through Okpalaye Mathew Ibrahim, a hospital worker in the area, paying N2.3 million in total, including a registration fee of N100,000.

In a separate incident on November 16, 2025, operatives from the Tafa Division rescued four children from Usman Adamu (40) of Sabon-Wuse, Tafa. The children—Khalid Ilyasu (7), Sadiq Ilyasu (11), Ahmed Ilyasu (5), and Sadiq Idris (5)—were reportedly abducted from the Sabon-Wuse area. Adamu admitted that a woman, whose identity is still unknown, instructed him to procure the children for her with the promise of a reward.

All suspects are currently in custody, and police investigations are ongoing to apprehend other individuals connected to the syndicate and recover additional trafficked children.