The Police in Adamawa have confirmed the rescue of 24 underaged children who were taken away from the state for child labour and other human trafficking purposes.
Mr Sikiru Akande, the Commissioner of Police in the state, confirmed the development to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Yola.
Akande said that most of the affected children were indigenes of Adamawa.
He said that the development followed intelligent reports and complaints by some parents in the state.
“On the good work we are doing in this command; we can trace some underaged children (boys and girls) who are indigenes of Adamawa state that had been taken for child labor across Nigeria.
“Presently, 24 of them are in our custody; they were rescued from different parts of Nigeria.
“And the command does not have the facility to take care of this huge number of children. We, therefore, appeal to the state government and other Non-Governmental Organizations to assist the command in taking care of the children,” Akande said.
He noted that some of the children were rescued from Enugu, Kaduna, Jos and other parts of the country.
He said that the command is working with various security agencies across the country to ensure that all children who were taken for child labour or human trafficking from the state were recovered.
He, therefore, appealed to members of the public, especially parents whose children were missing, should come to the state command for verification.
NAN reports that the children are aged between seven and 13 years, and were both males and females.
Similarly, the command has arrested 33 suspected rapists, kidnappers, armed robbers and culpable homicides, among others, within two weeks.
The commissioner said that five AK 47 rifles,164 live ammunition, one Toyota Corolla, one Toyota Hilux, one Toyota Starlet, and ₦937,000 cash were recovered from the suspects.
“Thirty-three suspects in connection to kidnapping, rape, culpable homicide, armed robberies, among others, from across the state were apprehended,” Akande said. (NAN)
