Following the abduction of 47 children from Lafia, Nasarawa State, in May 2021, the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has been able to unite two children with their parents.
The reunion took place on the 21st of October 2021 at the NAPTIP headquarters in Abuja.
The Director-General of NAPTIP Dr Fatima Waziri-Azi, mentioned that the finding of the children and arrest of the suspect was with the aid of sister law enforcement agencies including the police, Department of State Services (DSS) and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
She said after receiving intel that the abducted kids had been trafficked to people in Anambra, the agency along with other sister law enforcement agencies began to track to abductions which led to the arrest of a suspect and the rescue of Sherriff and Abdullahi”
“As at the time of their rescue, the boys had already been given Igbo names. Sheriff was now being called Chike Nesu Njoku and Abdullahi was called Chibueze Daniel. Since their rescue, they have been at the NAPTIP shelter until we decided it was time for them to be reunited with their families”.
“The case will be charged to court in a few days’ time. We are following the money trail and tracking it to the very top. The arrested suspect is just the beginning of the boomerang effect. We hope in the coming days, with the evidence before us and the trail we are following, will lead us to the very top of the cartel,” she said.
The DG advised parents to be aware of the new trend kidnappers used to abduct children from their homes as traffickers now tend to immerse themselves in communities and become familiar faces to the people around them therefore building some level of trust.
She stated that parents be careful with whom they entrust their children to as in the case of Sheriff and Abdullahi, their abductors where people whom the parents knew and trusted.
