Four stolen children have been rescued and reunited with their parents in Umuahia after eight days of search by the police amid high tension suffered by family and friends.
Abia Police Public Relations Officer Maureen Chinaka, a Superintendent of Police (ASP), confirmed the rescue in a statement, a week after one of the mothers reported to the police the abduction by an unidentified tenant on December 16.
The four children, who belong to three different parents living in the same building, are Joy Udoma, 3, (female), Ogbonna Udoma, 6, (male), Chioma Kingsley, 5, (female) and Miracle Ikechukwu, 5, (female).
Two of them were rescued on December 22 and the other two on December 24, Chinaka explained, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
Chinaka disclosed the police arrested one Ifeoma Abonyi, a 35-year-old woman in Asaba in Delta who had been identified as the previously unknown tenant allegedly responsible for the abduction of the four children.
Eight suspects comprising five women and three men, are helping with the investigation of the crime, but three others are at large, Chinaka said.
“We are intensifying efforts to ensure their arrest soonest,” she added, per reporting by Daily Trust.
“Meanwhile, investigation is ongoing to determine the real status of the six other children that were found in the custody of the arrested suspects.
“This might entail the conduct of DNA tests, as some of the suspects are claiming that the children are their biological offspring.”
Chinaka said the outcome of the investigation would be made open as soon as possible.
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