Police Recover Infant Sold By Rivers Grandmother, Arrests Suspect

The Police in Rivers State on Wednesday said they have rescued a baby boy who was allegedly sold by his grandmother, while the suspect has been arrested.

The child’s mother, Anthonia Joseph explained that her mother (the baby’s grandmother) insisted on selling her four-day-old son to a buyer in Imo State on the grounds that her husband had yet to fulfil his marital obligations.

Joseph disclosed that her mother took her to Imo State where she was delivered of the baby, adding that she connived with the midwives and nurses to sell the baby and threatened her not to tell anyone.

“I asked her why? She said my husband had yet to pay the marital obligations, that if I don’t accept it she was going to strangle me and the baby.

“The buyer came by 5am, they took the baby and she (the alleged buyer) collected the baby and crossed to the other side of the road. I asked my mother why she did that; she said if exposed her that she was going to kill me,” she stated.

On how the baby was rescued, Anthonia’s husband, Christian Duru, said the grandmother had lied to him on the telephone that his son was dead, but that he suspected foul play when his wife did not speak in the presence of her mother.

“She was crying that she cannot say anything that she will call me later. Later my wife called me saying that her mother sold our baby boy.

“Today (Wednesday), the Divisional Crime Officer (DCO) of Trans Amadi Police Station called and told me that they have recovered the baby alive.”

Spokesman for the state police command, Nnamdi Omoni, said, “The baby has been rescued and suspect has been arrested.”