Two women have been arrested in Taraba State after they allegedly lured three young girls from their homes in Jalingo and attempted to transport them to Adamawa State.
The suspects, reportedly from the South-East, were intercepted at a filling station while travelling with the children in a commercial vehicle.
The incident reportedly came to light after the driver became suspicious that the three girls did not appear to be related to the women accompanying them.
The driver is said to have contacted members of his transport union, who subsequently alerted the police, leading to the arrest of the suspects.
The two women had allegedly gained access to the children by renting accommodation in the same compound where the girls lived with their parents. They reportedly moved into the house about two weeks before the incident.
According to information gathered, the women approached the children’s mothers on Thursday morning and asked to take the girls along to the market.
The women allegedly took the children instead to a motor park in Jalingo, where they arranged a vehicle to take them towards Adamawa.
Police sources said the suspects allegedly admitted at the station that they had taken the girls from the compound after misleading their mothers about their destination.
The children—Ummul Shuaibu, Ummul Baba Gasal and Amina Abubakar—are aged between five and six years.
The development came as a shock to the children’s parents, who were later summoned to the Taraba State Police Command headquarters.
Abubakar Kwalli, father of one of the girls, said the parents were initially asked to identify the children before being directed to bring their wives for further identification.
“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.
The police have continued investigating the circumstances surrounding the alleged abduction and the suspects’ intended destination.
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