Mariam Adebukola 
A 45-year-old Oluchukwu Nwosu has been taken into custody by the Anambra State Police Command after a tip-off that she sold her three-month-old granddaughter for N50,000.
The state command made this known on Sunday at a press briefing by the State Government’s Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Mrs Ify Obinabo.
According to the commissioner, the baby has been rescued after consistent intelligence reports and surveillance for almost a month.
Obinabo told pressmen “The rescue operation followed a report by Ijeoma Nwosu, who claimed that her mother, Oluchukwu, forcefully sold her baby soon after he was born and refused to tell her the baby’s whereabouts.
“Following receipt of the allegation, the ministry immediately took action to identify and apprehend the perpetrators.
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“Four suspects involved in the crime have been apprehended and will be handed over to the police for questioning and further investigation.
“It is sad that the baby is looking sick and underweight. According to the buyer, she has no money to buy proper baby food, and she resorted to feeding the baby with soya bean powder.”
Giving her reasons for selling her grandchild, Oluchukwu, who pleaded for mercy, narrated that the baby would be her daughter’s third child outside wedlock, and there was no money to cater for the children.
She said “We are poor. There is no money to feed and take care of ourselves and the children. So, when I met one Tochukwu Asiegbu, we bargained and agreed that he would pay N50,000, and he paid me the money.”
Since her only duty was to present Oluchukwu to the buyer, Asiegbu, a middleman in the baby’s sale, also disclosed that she made N30,000 from the deal.
The buyer, named Evelyn Egwuatu from Uruagu in Nnewi, claimed to have spent N200,000 to acquire the child from Ebelechukwu Uba, an Anambra resident who is originally from Ebonyi.
Uba, on the other hand, claimed to be only an intermediary, stating that Asiegbu and Oluchukwu had decided to sell the child to Egwuatu.
