KANO: COUPLE DESPERATE TO HAVE MALE CHILD STEALS DAY-OLD TWIN
The Kano State Police Command has arrested a couple for allegedly stealing a day-old baby from Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital, Kano, Punch Newspaper reports.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abdullahi Haruna-Kiyawa, disclosed this in a statement on Saturday.
Haruna-Kiyawa said one Rabiu Muhammad, a resident of Gayawa Quarters in the Ungogo Local Government Area of the state, reported to the police that one of the twins his wife delivered on September 7, 2021 at Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital Kano, was missing.
According to the police, the following day, around 1.30am, one of his newly-born male twins was discovered missing after his sister in-law, who was looking after the babies at the corridor of the maternity ward in the hospital, slept off.
“She woke up and couldn’t see one of the babies,” Haruna-Kiyawa told the News Agency of Nigeria.
He said upon receiving the report, the Commissioner of Police, Sama’ila Shu’aibu-Dikko, instructed a team of detectives led by SP Daniel Amah to rescue the victim and arrest the culprits.
The PPRO said, “The team immediately stormed the facility and launched a search operation. The hospital was sealed and thoroughly combed but the baby could not be found.
“Intelligence report, led to the arrest of one Maryam Sadiq, 22, and her husband, one Abubakar Sadiq, 50 years, all of Rijiyar Zaki quarters, Kano.The baby was recovered from them in their home.”
“During preliminary investigations, Maryam confessed to have taken away the baby from the hospital. She said her husband influenced her into committing the crime, as he has been longing for a male child.”
Haruna-Kiyawa further explained that the suspects were said to have organised a party to celebrate the arrival of a male child in their family.
“That triggered doubts and suspicion since their neighbours knew that Maryam was not pregnant,” he said.
He stated that the new born baby had already been reunited with his parents, adding that the CP had ordered that the case should be transferred to the Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department of the command for discreet investigations