Potbellied kids used for alms begging in Lagos mostly found in Abakaliki – suspect
A human trafficker has told the police that his syndicate usually recruits children with abnormally protruding stomachs from Abakaliki, in Ebonyi state. The kids are then brought to Lagos state for alms begging.
The Lagos state police command had earlier announced it arrested four members of the syndicate, namely Uchenna Eze, 24; Onyedikachkwu Isiala, 18; Ikechukwu Kingsley, 22; and Smart Alasuomu, 20.
A suspecting citizen, who saw one of them applying an ointment on a trafficked child who would be sent to the streets for alms begging, had reported the syndicate to the police.
One of the suspects, Eze, during police interrogation, said that they recruit the affected children from a village in Abakaliki.
“One of my aunts, Ngozi Chukwu, who is the founder of the foundation, saw other associations parading in Lagos, she knew these kinds of cases are in her village in Abakaliki and she went there and brought these ones (children), “ Eze told the police.
He added the parents of the kids know their whereabouts and consented to the illegality. “The girls’ parents know that they are in Lagos and used as beggars to get money so that they can be treated or operated on because they are poor”, he added. He further said the proceeds from the alms begging is usually used to procure surgery for the kids, due to their medical conditions.
According to Benjamin Hundeyin, spokesperson for the Lagos police command, the syndicate’s personal physician, who operate on the kids, has failed to honor invitation for questioning.
According to Cleveland Clinic, abdominal distension is the abnormally swollen outward of the stomach, and it could be caused by bloating from gas, accumulated fluid, tissue, or digestive content.
