Three men have been sentenced to jail in Benue state abducting and selling off their neighbour’s four year old son.
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The Federal High Court in Makurdi , sentenced the men for kidnapping in an incident which happened at Otukpo in Benue.
The three convicts; Adejo Ogiri, Ndukwe Henry and Obuito Onyema, were arrested by operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS) Benue state, in connection with the abduction.
The DSS then handed the men over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), which promptly charged them to court.
One of the convicts Ogiri, abducted the four-year-old boy from Otukpo and took him to Umuahia, Abia State, where he handed him over to another suspect currently on the run, Michael Uzochukwu.
Michael then took the child to another man, Augustine, whom they planned to sell the child to.
The men were arrested by the DSS when they attempted to retrieve the money paid for the abducted child by the buyer.
The DSS thereafter, rescued the child, arrested and handed the suspects over to NAPTIP for further investigations and prosecution.
Confirming the incident, the head of NAPTIP Press and Public Relations, Mrs. Stella Nezan, stated that the actions of the suspects contravened Sections 13(2), 21, and 27 of the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition) Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.
“In the course of the trial, the presiding judge found the acts committed by the accused persons despicable. And based on the evidences tendered by the prosecution, the judge found them guilty and subsequently sentenced them accordingly.
Convicted under Sections 13(2) (a), 21 and 27 of TIPPEA ACT, 2015, Ogiri was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment; Henry and Onyema were sentenced to five years’ imprisonment each, while the other accused persons got bail and have not showed up since then.” The statement read.
The Director-General of NAPTIP, Julie Okah-Donli, said the fight against human trafficking had been more impactful since the law enforcement agencies started working together.