The Police in Ogun State have arrested a 33-year-old woman, Olaide Adekunle for allegedly selling her 18-month-old baby for N600,000 to a yet-to-be-identified buyer.
The suspect was arrested in Sango, Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday, March 15.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the command, Abimbola Oyeyemi confirmed the arrest of the suspect to journalists in Abeokuta on Monday.
According to Oyeyemi, the suspect’s husband, Nureni Rasaq told the police at Sango divisional headquarters that his wife left home for Lagos with their baby girl by the name Moridiat Rasaq, but returned home without the baby.
He told the police further that, all efforts to know what happened to the baby proved abortive as the woman was unable to give any reasonable account of the whereabouts of the said child.
“Upon the report, the DPO Sango division, Dahiru Saleh, detailed his detectives to go after the woman and she was promptly arrested.
“On interrogation, the suspect confessed that she sold the baby to someone in Lagos at the rate of N600,000.
“When asked the reason for her action, she stated that she borrowed money from a microfinance bank, and when she was unable to pay back the money, the bank agents started dragging her and threatening to deal decisively with her.
“It was consequent upon this that she ran to Lagos and started hawking sachet water.
“It was while hawking that she met a man who introduced her to the woman that eventually bought the child in Lagos”, Oyeyemi said.
He added that the acting Commissioner of Police, DCP Babakura Muhammed, has directed that the suspect be transferred to State Criminal Investigation Departments for further investigation and possible recovery of the baby.