Plateau State Police Command has busted another child trafficking syndicate after a credible intelligence tip from the Joint Task Force apprehended a woman named Nanman Pungtel at the old airport junction in Jos.
The state has been in the news recently over reported cases of child trafficking.
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It was gathered that the suspect was found with three kids who she couldn’t account for. Further investigation led to the arrest of the mastermind of the trafficking operations, one Pastor Dayo Bernard of End Time Army Ministry Bukuru, on the same night.
The operation led to the rescue of five children between the ages of two and four years abducted from various homes in Kwande district of Qua’anpan LGA and the subsequent arrest of other members of the syndicate identified as Rita Agboeze, Victoria Ugwu, and Peter Ukwuani.
The suspects who were ferried from Jos to Abuja were later paraded by the Force Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi.
However, the kingpin and principal suspect, Pastor Dayo, confessed to having abducted and sold 13 Plateau children at varying prices ranging from N350,000 to N750,000, all of whom have been recovered by the police and reunited with their families.
Piqued by the development, Plateau State Commissioner for Women Affairs and Social Development, Mrs. Panglang Dafur, also fingered some religious leaders and other institutions as being complicit in child trafficking in the state.
On his part, the president of the Church of Christ in Nations, COCIN, Rev. Dr. Amos Mohzo, who spoke on the development, urged pastors to use the pulpits and raise awareness among members over the rising cases of child trafficking, especially on the Plateau.
According to him, the reports of the sharp rise of child trafficking on the Plateau are alarming, hence the need for church leaders to speak to families on the implications of the ungodly act and how to address the menace.
In his words, “We are not lazy people to that extent in Plateau State, and we are Christians; that should not be found among us.”
It will be recalled that Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang, during his state broadcast to mark the New Year celebration, read the riot act to the perpetrators of this dastardly act.
Mutfwang decried the habit of some individuals who have taken child trafficking as a business for exploitation in the state.
He warned that the state government under his watch would take decisive action against those who indulge in this criminal activity while encouraging parents to take absolute responsibility for raising their children and safeguarding them against this menace.