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The Amaraku market in the Isiala Mbano council area of Imo state finds itself in a state of tension following the recent kidnapping of a 7-month-old baby by a suspected child trafficking syndicate last Friday.
The incident has caused widespread panic in the area, prompting residents to mobilize and contribute their efforts in the ongoing search for the missing child.
An eyewitness a woman and a trader, who did not want her name mentioned in the print, narrated the incident saying that the suspected child trafficker, targeted the crying baby wrapped on her mother’s back (a trader) in her shop struggling to sell her foodstuff.
An anonymous eyewitness, a female trader, recounted the incident, the suspected child trafficker specifically targeted the crying baby who was being carried on her mother’s back. The mother, also a trader, was engaged in the challenging task of selling her foodstuff in her shop at the time of the incident.
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The eyewitness said, ‘I was buying some foodstuff at Amaraku market when a woman started shouting, ‘My baby, my baby, where is my baby?’
‘She had given her 7-month-old baby out to a stranger while she was selling Okro and other vegetables because the baby was crying and disturbing. The stranger carried the baby on her back but later disappeared into the crowd. When the woman realized the woman was no longer in sight, she started shouting and crying.’
‘Other traders around helped to search for the woman but could not find her. The woman may have been charmed by the stranger because no one in her right senses will release her baby in such an environment with over ten thousand buyers and sellers. What is she going to tell her husband?’
The State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) had not provided any comment or response to the media’s inquiry at the time this story was being documented.
