the Akwa Ibom State police over
the theft of a seven-month old
baby boy -Feargod Edemekong. The suspect, Ukat Aran, aka Dr.
Job, was arrested in Afia Nsit Atai,
Nsit Ibium Local Government Area
of the state.
The mother of the baby, Mrs.
Mfreke Edemekong, said on Tuesday in Uyo that Aran came to
sell some herbal medicines to her
husband's uncle, Mr. Effiong
Akpan, a day before her child was
stolen.
Mfreke said, "Last Thursday, around 5am, a four-man gang
broke into our house. One of them
hit my husband, Ekong Edemekong,
on the cheek with the butt of his
gun."
She said two of the gang members entered their room, while one stood
outside with a gun ready to fire.
She added that the last member
was the driver.
She said the two members, who
went inside the room, snatched Feargod, while pointing guns at her
and her husband.
"As the men took my child away,
they also forced me to escort them
to the car. It was then that I saw
that the driver was the herb seller who had called at our house the
previous day to sell herbs to
Akpan."
Mfreke, who said her eight years
marriage to Ekong had been blessed
with two children -Godswill, 7; and the seven-month-old Feargod,
explained that the abductors had
accused her husband of selling
hemp.
She said the four abductors told
them that they were police officers who came to arrest them
for selling contraband items.
She said, "We did not restrain them
from searching our house. We told
them that we are farmers; we do
not sell hemps or know where such things are sold. Rather than search
our house for verification of their
claims, they snatched my baby. It
was then that we realised that the
men are child thieves. They only
used hemp issue as a cover story. "I insisted that they must not
take my child away, but the
assailants hit me with the butt of
their guns and pushed me into the
gutter. They zoomed off with my
child, whose whereabouts is currently unknown."
The acting Police Public Relations
Officer of the state command,
ASP John Patrick, confirmed the
incident.
He said another yet-to-be identified suspect had been
arrested, while the case had been
transferred to the State Criminal
Investigation Department for
further actions.
"The case has been transferred to SCID for a thorough investigation.
The SCID will do its best to ensure
that those involved in the
incidents are brought to book," he
said.
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