3 arrested for abducting stray siblings in Lagos
The suspects, Olaniyi Wale, Tunde Adeyanju and Lekan Sowaju were alleged to have cajoled two children, ages eight and five, who were looking for their mother around Otunba Bus Stop, into entering their vehicle, promising to take them to where their mother was.
Entreaties by the children to be allowed to alight from the vehicle when the strangers drove them past their house fell on deaf ears. Instead, the suspects informed them that they were taking them to a
television station to announce that they were missing.
However, on their way the vehicle was flagged down by some Vehicle Inspection Officers, VIO. Rather than comply, one of them was said to have told the officers that they were in a hurry, a reply that aroused the officials’ suspension. They could also not offer a satisfactory explanation on where they were taking the children to and were consequently handed over to police for further investigation.
‘We were helping them’
During interrogation, one of the suspects, Sowaju, maintained that they wanted to assist the children, whom he claimed they met crying on the road. He said:
“We did not kidnap them. We saw them crying and stopped to help them. They said their parents were fighting and that they were looking for their mother. I called our chairman, Balogun and we also contacted some media houses. We were taking them to Faaji FM and AIT when we were stopped.
“When they took us to the police station, our chairman was there to confirm that he sent us. But the police said the DPO was not around and that our people should come back in the evening, only for them to transfer us here.”Confirming their arrest, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said the children would soon be reunited with their parents and urged parents to look after their wards to avoid such scenarios.
