Police Apprehend 63-Year-Old Woman for Alleged Child Theft, Trafficking in Anambra

The Anambra State Police Command has apprehended a 63-year-old woman, Ngozi Muotuanya, over her alleged involvement in child theft and interstate trafficking.

According to police, Muotuanya, a resident of Awkuzu-Oba, was arrested on Monday by operatives of the Oba Division following credible intelligence. She is suspected of being a key figure in a trafficking network that operates between Niger and Anambra states.

Police investigations revealed that in 2024, the suspect allegedly abducted a male child, aged about one year, from Minna, Niger State, and sold him to an unsuspecting buyer in Anambra. The child was later resold to another individual.

“On August 4, 2025, the second buyer, upon realising the child was stolen, returned him to the principal suspect,” police spokesperson SP Tochukwu Ikenga said in a statement on Tuesday. “The suspect then allegedly abandoned the child at an unknown church in Minna, where he was rescued by the leader of the Igbo Community in the area.”

The Anambra police command has since passed information about the child’s whereabouts to their Niger State counterparts to facilitate his recovery and reunification with his parents.

Muotuanya will be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department in Awka for further investigation and possible prosecution.

This latest arrest comes amid intensified police efforts to crack down on the rising cases of child disappearance in Oba and surrounding communities.

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