A dubious female sergeant has been arrested for reportedly selling off a week old baby who was brought to the Police Station alongside the mentally unstable mother.
A female sergeant identified as Obotie Adesuwa, is currently cooling her heels in the cell of the X-Squad Section of the Lagos State Police Command, after she allegedly sold a week-old baby boy who had been brought with his mother to a police station.
Adesuwa, who hails from Edo State, is attached to the Akinpelu Police Division, where the baby boy and her mother, Toyin, who is said to be mentally unstable, had also been brought to by a Good Samaritan, Punch Metro reports.
It was learnt that the kind Nigerian, who was taking care of the baby’s mother, had brought Toyin and her child to the station after Toyin was delivered of the baby in a psychiatric hospital.
They were reportedly brought to the police in the last week of September. It was learnt that Adesuwa, who was on duty, had received the baby.
However, trouble at the Akinpelu division on Monday, November 9, when Toyin showed up at the station to ask for her baby, but the sergeant allegedly denied knowing the woman.
It was gathered that the matter had caused an altercation during which the Divisional Police Officer invited the mother and the sergeant and interrogated them.
The sergeant was said to have confessed to the DPO that she collected the baby but had sold him.
A police source revealed that Adesuwa allegedly took the baby to her village in Edo State, and later sold him to a family in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Adesuwa, who allegedly failed to record the incident in the crime diary of the police station on the fateful evening, was then arrested and taken to the Area F command, Ikeja, from where she was later transferred to the X-Squad Section, it was learnt.
The source said: “The incident happened at the Akinpelu Police Division. The sergeant received the report of a mentally deranged woman and her newborn baby. But on the same evening, she was said to have arranged for the woman and the baby to be put inside a car and driven away by unknown persons."
“At a junction, the baby’s mother was given N500 and asked to alight. The car drove away with the baby. It was on Monday, November 9, that the mother unbelievably showed up at the station to ask for her baby. The sergeant initially denied ever meeting her.
“The DPO was later informed, and took all of them to the Area Commander, and then the female sergeant was arrested. The baby has now been recovered.”
Another source, who claimed to have spoken with Adesuwa after her arrest, added that the sergeant gave the baby to one of her relatives in Edo State to sell to a couple in Port Harcourt at an undisclosed amount.
She explained that the baby was later rescued through the help of policemen while the buyer was also arrested.
The Lagos State Police Public Relatisons Officer, DSP Joe Offor, confirmed Adesuwa’s arrest, adding that investigation was ongoing.