The Taraba State Police Command has arrested two women for allegedly abd¥cting three young girls in Jalingo and attempting to traffic them to Adamawa State.
The suspects, who are reportedly from one of the South-East states, were arrested at a filling station while travelling in a commercial vehicle with the three children.
According to reports, the driver became suspicious after noticing that the girls did not appear to be related to the women travelling with them. He subsequently alerted members of his transport union, who contacted the police, leading to the arrest of the suspects.
The two women, who are reportedly single, had allegedly rented a room in the same compound where the children and their parents lived about two weeks before the incident.
It was gathered that the incident occurred on Thursday morning when the women allegedly deceived the girls’ mothers by asking them to allow the children to accompany them to the market.
However, instead of going to the market, the suspects allegedly took the three girls to a motor park in Jalingo, where they reportedly hired a vehicle to transport them to Adamawa State.
At the police station, the women allegedly admitted to taking the girls from the compound after deceiving their mothers.
The children, identified as Ummul Shuaibu, Ummul Baba Gasal and Amina Abubakar, are reportedly between five and six years old.
Abubakar Kwalli, the father of one of the girls, told Daily Trust that he and the fathers of the other two children were invited to the Taraba State Police Command headquarters.
“We were surprised to see our children at the police headquarters. We were asked to identify them, which we did, but we were directed to bring our wives to further identify the children before they would be released to us,” he said.
He added that when the girls saw their mothers, each of them reportedly rushed toward her mother in tears.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Taraba State Command, ASP Victor Mshelizah, confirmed the incident and the arrest of the two women.
He said investigations were ongoing and that further details would be made available after the investigation is concluded.