ABIA: Police sergeant arrested for child trafficking

Goodluck Mark, a sergeant attached to Abia State Police Command has been arrested for his alleged involvement in child trafficking and for allegedly seizing the sum of N600,000 being the proceed of the illegal sales of a child to an unknown buyer.

Reports say Mark, who also serves as an evangelist at the Church of Christ, Seventh Day Adventist, Osaa-Ukwu in Obi Ngwa Local Government Area of the state, was nabbed and detained by policemen at D7 Umuahia.

A source in the community who is aware of the incident said Mark was later released after bribing his way out of cell but he was later arrested and detained to face the law for his crime.

The source said; “Last month, a woman from my community here, connived with one man who owns a maternity home here to sell her own baby for N600,000. Fortunately they were caught by the youth/vigilantes of the community.

“The vigilantes decided to hand them over to the police. One of our brothers, who we know as a police officer, was called upon to take the suspects to the police station and register the case.

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“The money realised from their dubious sale was dug out from the ground where they buried it and handed over to the officer as evidence.

“Instead of taking the suspects into custody, the officer released the two men involved to run and warned them never to return to the community. He also beat and threatened the child’s mother who he also released.

“A few days later when the news of what happened filtered in, the community invited the police and they arrested Mark and took him to D7 in Umuahia,” the source said.

Confirming the incident, DSP Geoffrey Ogbonna, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) revealed that Mark was a dismissed sergeant. The PPRO also noted that case involving Mark and his other cohorts has been moved to Zone 9, from D7 Umuahia.

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