The suspect, identified as Joy, was apprehended by operatives of the Delta State Police Command after investigations linked her to the abduction of the two infants.
Police said the woman confessed that she took the children because she wanted to conceal the death of her twin babies after her husband had already informed church members and invited guests for a child dedication and thanksgiving service.
According to investigators, the twins died shortly before the scheduled church event, but the suspect allegedly chose not to disclose the incident to her husband. Instead, she allegedly sought out two other babies to present as her own.
Speaking on the incident in a video shared with journalists on Wednesday, the spokesperson for the Delta State Police Command, Superintendent of Police Bright Edafe, said: “I remember one time the command did a video about how parents should be watchful and mindful of their children. The Police cannot be everywhere at the same time, whether we accept that as a reality or not.”
“About three days ago, we had a very disturbing report about a woman who came in and said she wanted to buy groundnuts. While they were looking for the groundnuts for her, she somehow misled the 14-year-old who was holding a baby, and she went away with a four-month-old baby.”
“Prior to the abduction of this child, she had done it a week ago or two weeks ago thereabout. She went to a roadside ticket seller and told her that she was looking for a house help. She established a relationship with the 18-year-old girl that had a child. Then one day, she said, ‘Let me help you carry this baby and buy sweets from there.’ She ran away.”
“Tell me how a mother would give her child to a stranger to carry a three-month-old child. She was trying to manufacture twins in her own way. She kept them in her house in Uzere,” Edafe added.
The suspect admitted during questioning that she turned to child theft after losing her twin babies.
“I got pregnant and had twin children. When they were one month and two weeks old, I left them to go to the market. Before I came back, they had used cold water to bathe the twins and they both died,” she said.
“My husband had already invited people for child dedication, so I decided to steal two children, a boy and a girl.”
“I stole the first baby three weeks ago and later stole the other one on Saturday because the dedication was on Sunday.”
