The room at the Oyo State Police Command headquarters in Ibadan was brimming with activities on Sunday.
Seven men and women stood in a line, heads down, as Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Abimbola, paraded them before cameras.
Their crime cut across five states — Oyo, Ogun, Lagos, Kogi and Delta — but the pain was most raw in the faces of parents still searching for answers.
For months, the syndicate had been snatching children between the ages of 2 and 7. Twenty-three in total.
According to the police, 17 of them were found alive and have since been reunited with families who had almost given up hope.
The other six were not so lucky. Abimbola said some died in the custody of the suspects while others were sold for ritual purposes.
What made the case even more difficult to stomach was where the betrayal came from. Two of the women paraded were mothers of some of the.
One of them, police said, sold three of her own seven children. The second sold her two children, and then went further to sell a neighbor’s child as well.
“Love of money,” CP Abimbola said simply, as he described their motive. In the statements taken, the women admitted they were paid to hand over the children to the ringleaders, who then moved them across state lines to buyers.
The arrests followed weeks of intelligence work and tracking across the South-West and into the Middle Belt.
The syndicate had built a network: some members lured the children from markets and streets, others transported them, and others negotiated the sales.
For families in Ibadan, Abeokuta, Lagos and beyond, the last few months have been sleepless nights, flyers on walls, and prayers in churches and mosques.
Now 17 children are home. But the questions remain. How does a mother sell her child? How do you rebuild trust in a neighborhood where the person next door was part of the trade?
Abimbola said investigations are ongoing and more arrests are expected. For now, the rescued children are receiving medical care and counseling, while the six families who will never see their children again are left to mourn.
The police say the case has been transferred for prosecution.
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(Editor: Anoyoyo Ogiagboviogie)
