The Adamawa State Police Command has arrested an 18-year-old suspect, Blessing John, while negotiating to sell a four-year-old boy she kidnapped.

John, an applicant who hails from Unguwan Cashew along Michika General Hospital Road, after her arrest, confessed that she abducted the boy from Michika with the intention of selling him in Mubi, and use proceeds from the sale to buy a car and a house.

Providing details on how she perpetrated the crime, she said she lured the boy (name withheld) from her neighbourhood in Michika and took him to Anguwan Kara, in Mubi to meet a prospective buyer. After several calls to the prospective buyer’s phone lines were unsuccessful, the suspect, out of desperation, decided to speak to someone in the neighbourhood, about the whereabouts of the prospective buyer, but unwittingly disclosed that she brought the boy to him to buy.

The command’s Public Relations Officer, Sulaiman Nguroje, said the man then provided the police with the information that led to the suspect’s arrest.

Nguroje, who said the teenager confessed to the crime, warned parents to always keep a close eye on their children and the company they keep.

He said, “According to her, she got in contact with a kidnapper during her recent visit to Mubi when a friend told her she could make money by supplying children to ritualists.

“She, in desperation for material wealth, abducted her neighbour’s son to raise money to buy a car and live a luxurious life.