A Kano State High Court on Wednesday handed down a combined 120-year prison term to 6 members of a child abduction syndicate for their roles in kidnapping and trafficking children under 10 years old.
Justice Zuwaira Yusuf found Mercy Paul, Ebere Ogbono, Emmanuel Igwe, Loise Duru, Monica Oracha and Chinelo Ifedigwe guilty of concealment, abetment, kidnapping and trafficking of minors. None of the sentences carries an option of a fine.
Sentences were allocated as follows: Mercy Paul received 55 years, Ebere Ogbono 41 years, Emmanuel Igwe and Chinelo Ifedigwe nine years each, Loise Duru six years and Monica Oracha five years.
The court heard that the children were abducted in Kano and subsequently sold in Onitsha, Anambra State. The six co-defendants, who had pleaded not guilty, were arrested in 2019 and endured a six-year trial that drew widespread attention to the issue of child trafficking in Nigeria.
Mr. Paul Onwe, the syndicate’s leader, had earlier pleaded guilty to 38 counts and was sentenced to 104 years in July 2021. With the convictions of his co-defendants, the Kano State High Court has brought this chapter of the trafficking network to a close.
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