Childless woman steals fellow tenant’s one-month-old baby

The Akwa Ibom Police Command says it has arrested one Peace Chukwuemeka, 30, for allegedly stealing a month-old baby from her mother.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Murtala Mani, disclosed this while addressing newsmen on the activities of the command in Uyo on Tuesday.

Mani spoke through the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, ASP Cordelia Nwawe.

He said the suspect lived in the same compound with the mother of the baby at Mbak Itam in Itu Local Government Area.

He said that the family unit of the command, through intelligence, trailed the suspect, rescued and reunited the baby with her mother.

“In November, the ACID Section through the Family Unit recorded a great feat by bringing back a one month and some few days old baby to her mother in Akwa Ibom.

“The suspect, who has been married for some years without a baby, left Lagos State to Uyo, stayed in a compound in Mbak Itam with the intention to steal a baby from her neighbour.

“The Family Unit, through intelligence report, was able to rescue the baby and returned her to the mother,” Mani said.

The Police also said that they had rescued a four-year-old boy from a young man who snatched the boy from his mother at gun point.

Confessing to the crime, Peace Chukwuemeka said she had been married for 10 years and was desperate to have a baby.

She, however, denied giving the mother drug before stealing the baby.

She said: “I did not give anything to the mother, it was a coincident she was asleep and I seized that opportunity to take the baby.

“I have been married for 10 years, so I needed a baby of my own. I took the baby to my mother in the village but she refused to collect her from me.

“So I came back to Akwa Ibom and the owner of the baby started asking me of her baby, so I was arrested,” Chukwuemeka said.

Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria, the baby’s mother, Fatima Ibrahim, thanked God for bringing back her baby.

She said that the suspect was staying with them in the same compound at Mbak Itam, adding that she “drugged” her to sleep and thereafter stole her baby. (NAN)