Woman Who Kept Four Stolen Children Inside Guest House Arrested With Her Accomplice

A woman who was said to have stolen four children and kept them inside a guest house in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, has been arrested by men of the state police command alongside her accomplice, the command announced in a statement.

The state police command disclosed the development on its X handle on Monday morning, saying the woman, whose name was given as Esther Anthony, was part of a child trafficking ring and was found with the children whose ages ranged between one year and 13 years.

According to the command, she was arrested alongside her accomplice, whose name was given as Purity Silas, in connection with the case.

It was gathered that she kept the children inside the guest house and was planning to hand them over to a nurse named Loveth who runs a maternity home and is currently at large.

The command wrote: “The Guest House Manager grew suspicious of Esther Anthony’s activities and refused to let her check out with the children, demanding that their mother be present.

“Esther Anthony left and returned with police officers, falsely claiming that the Guest House Manager had abducted the children and threatened her with a gun. However, the Manager contacted the Choba Area Command and the officers arrived to arrest her.”

The command added that preliminary investigations revealed that she conspired with someone named Favour to traffick the children from Bayelsa State to Port Harcourt and she was also identified by another family as the same person who stole three of their children and sold them.

The two of them were said to have confessed engaging in the act and they had been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) for further investigation.