A middle aged woman identified as Jennifer Onyebuchi, has been arrested by operatives attached to the Lagos State Police Command for allegedly stealing a nine-month-old baby boy in the Ajegunle area of the state, and escaping with the child to Okija town in Anambra State.
According to reports, Onyebuchi, who hails from the state, was a friend to the baby's mother, Aina Adetola, while in Lagos and on the day she decided to steal the baby, had told the mother she wanted to buy something for the boy but that was the last she was seen until she was arrested on September 30, while the baby was also rescued.
The suspect and the baby's mother had their shops close to each other at Orodu Street, Ajegunle, when she got close to Adetola and became her friend, the other woman did not suspect any ulterior motive, until her baby got missing.
A resident narrated the incident thus:
“It was on Saturday, September 26. We were all shocked that Jennifer (Onyebuchi) escaped with the nine-month-old baby. She had met the victim’s mother for just two weeks before she carried out the act.
They were both shop owners in the area. On that day, Jennifer took the baby from his mother when he was crying and said she was going to buy him a bottle of soft drink from a nearby shop.
When the mother waited for them to return, but did not see them, she raised the alarm. The matter was thereafter reported at the Ajegunle Police Division.
Nobody suspected that Jennifer had a devilish motive. It turned out that the woman took the baby to a bus station and travelled on the same day to Okija, Anambra State.”
It was gathered that after four days of hiding, Onyebuchi was arrested in Okija, while the baby was rescued by the police.
A police source in the area said when operatives visited Jennifer’s apartment where she lived with her lover, the man directed them to a spare parts dealer who brought her from the village.
“The police located the spare parts dealer, who suggested that the woman might have travelled to her hometown in Okija, Anambra State. So, the dealer and the police went to Anambra, and they were on her trail for two days.
On Wednesday, she was arrested. She and the baby were brought back to Lagos on the eve of Nigeria’s Independence Day.
Some of the residents of the area wanted the police to release the suspect to them, so they would mob her, but that did not happen,” the police source said.