Pastor, wife, arrested for buying stolen baby in Abia

isaac

September 8, 2015 2:53 PM

A man of God and his wife has been arrested for allegedly buying a stolen baby.

A team of police officers

A 71-year-old man of God, Rev. Chima Egbochiogum and his wife, Ugonma, has been arrested by men of the Abia State Police Command for allegedly buying a baby illegally from a notorious child trafficker, identified as Ekwutosi, who was arrested some few weeks back.

The arrest of the retired pastor of a pentecostal church in Abriba, Ohafia Local Government Area of the state, according to the the Commissioner of Police, Habila Joshak, came after Ekwutosi confessed that he had sold a stolen baby to him.

The CP added that the trafficker had stolen and 11-months-old baby from a 21-year-old woman who got pregnant out of wedlock whom he pretended to help by securing a job for her, informing the lady that the baby was dead, only for him to sell the toddler to the pastor and his wife.

The CP said:

"Ekwutosi is a notorious child trafficker who stole babies and sold them at his illegal orphanage. He had met the helpless woman who had the child and promised to help her get a job so as to fend for her child as there was no one to take care of her.

The excited woman left her baby in the custody of Ekwotosi when she went to buy food for her.

But by the time the mother returned, Ekwutosi had disappeared with the baby.”

The police boss further said that the suspect was later intercepted by the police at Owerrinta when he was allegedly trafficking pregnant girls to Port Harcourt and during interrogations, he confessed to his criminal activities including the stealing of the 11- month old baby and selling to the pastor and his wife for the sum of N500, 000.

Pastor Egbochiogum, in an interview with journalists, said he was not aware that the baby he and his wife adopted was a stolen child.

He said that he had married his second wife following the death of his first wife, who had bore children for him.

isaac