The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says it has arrested three workers accused of attempting to traffic their employer’s two-year-old child in Ogoja, Cross River State.
Oba Joseph, head of operations at NAPTIP’s Cross River Command, said the suspects allegedly took the child from Ogberia Ochoro community and attempted to move him to another location for sale.
Mr Joseph disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Calabar.
He said the agency received a report about the incident and began investigating after the suspects were intercepted while travelling with the child.
According to him, the suspects claimed they had worked for their employer for about three months without receiving their wages.
“They claimed they decided to traffic the child as revenge and to recover the money they said they were owed,” Mr Joseph said.
However, the employer denied owing the workers, saying he had paid them except for the current month, which had not yet ended.
Mr Joseph said the suspects were stopped after a farmer returning from the farm became suspicious of their movements with the child.
“The farmer questioned them, after which one of the suspects allegedly claimed that the two-year-old child was his own,” he said.
The farmer was reportedly not satisfied with the explanation and raised an alarm, leading to the suspects’ arrest after they had crossed about four communities.
NAPTIP said investigations were continuing and that the suspects would be prosecuted after the investigation is concluded.
Age dispute
Mr Joseph said the suspects’ ages had also become an issue in the investigation.
Community records listed the suspects as 18, 19 and 27 years old, but they told NAPTIP that they were 16, 17 and 25.
The agency has therefore contacted their parents to help establish their actual ages.
Mr Joseph said if the suspects were confirmed to be under 18, they could be treated as children in conflict with the law, which could affect how the case is handled by the court.
He stressed, however, that the alleged attempt to traffic the two-year-old remained the focus of the investigation, regardless of the suspects’ ages.
He said the investigation would determine the appropriate legal process for prosecuting the suspects.
