The Lagos State Police Command has arrested a woman, Ezine Paul, for allegedly selling his younger sister's 24-day-old baby for N30,000.
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Ezine's 28-year-old sister, Uju Gladys, was said to have been impregnated out of wedlock in 2009.
Because of her inability to locate the man responsible for the pregnancy, her elder brothers and sisters were said to have resolved that she should be living with Ezine in Ipaye, a suburb of Lagos, pending her delivery.
Gladys told journalists at the premises of the command's Public Relations Officer, on Monday that she delivered a baby girl on December 12, 2009 and her sister made away with the baby on January 5, 2010.
She said when she confronted her, Ezine claimed that the family directed her to take the baby to a motherless babies' home so that she could get proper upbringing.
She said she was taken aback when she contacted her elder siblings and they denied knowledge of the alleged family resolution.
Gladys said that based on the advice of her sister, Chineye Onuoha, she reported the case at Ayobo Police Station, where the Divisional Police Officer, Mr. Julius Isijola, led some policemen to arrest Ezine.
Ezine confirmed to journalists that she sold the baby to a Ghanaian, whom she met through an unnamed female neighbour..
She said that she was paid N30,000 while the neighbour told her that she also received N20,000 from the buyer.
She said that she was told that the buyer had since travelled out of the country with the baby.
The command's Public Relations Officer, Mr. Frank Mba, said that efforts were on to track down the female accomplice and possibly the alleged buyer.
He added that during investigation, detectives discovered that Ezine had earlier engaged in suspected illegal adoption of a baby.
Mba said that investigation revealed that a seven-year-old girl, Geneva, who the suspect had been claiming to be her daughter, was not her biological daughter.
Confirming the allegation, Ezine said that she got the girl about seven years ago allegedly at the General Hospital, Onitsha with the aid of a nurse when she could not bear a child.
She claimed to have paid about N70,000 for the "adoption."
"I did that in ignorance. But now, I know that I engaged in illegality as regards Geneva," she told journalists.
Mba displayed photographs of different persons and assorted charms allegedly recovered from the suspect's wardrobe.
