Police Rescue 17 Children from Interstate Child-trafficking Syndicate, say Six Died in Custody

The Oyo state police command says its operatives have rescued 17 children and arrested seven suspects linked to an inter-state child-stealing and trafficking syndicate operating across Oyo, Ogun and Delta states.

Abimbola Olugbenga, commissioner of police in Oyo, paraded the suspects during a press briefing at the command headquarters in Ibadan, the state capital.

Olugbenga said the investigation began after a petition dated July 29, 2026, was submitted by Adejoke Popoola, also known as Orente Alagbo, over allegations of conspiracy, cyberbullying, threat to life and defamation.

He said detectives later linked the investigation to the disappearance of three-year-old Ifakunle Ifagbenro, who went missing during a masquerade festival in Oyo town on June 29.

According to the commissioner, pictorial and video evidence from the event showed Popoola carrying the child shortly before he disappeared.

The police chief said Popoola was arrested on August 4 and admitted leaving the festival with the child.

“Her statement provided the first major breakthrough into the wider criminal network,” Olugbenga said.

According to him, Popoola said she had been involved in the stealing of more than 15 children, aged between two and seven, from churches, parties and other event venues within and outside Oyo state.

She also identified Adekanbi Janet, also known as Hosanna, as her alleged partner.

The commissioner said Janet was arrested in Mowe, Ogun state, where four children, aged between two and four, were rescued, alongside two pregnant young women.

According to him, Janet told detectives that some of the stolen children were kept in custody pending their sale, while the pregnant women were kept until they gave birth.

He said her statement also provided information that helped detectives locate Ifakunle, who was rescued around Gbagi area of Ibadan on August 20.

The police commissioner said the investigation later extended to Agbor in Delta state, “where four children stolen from Oyo state were rescued from their buyers”. 

“Two suspects, identified as Christopher Joy, 48, and Rosemary Jesse, 53, were arrested in connection with the operation,” Olugbenga said. 

‘SIX CHILDREN KILLED’

He said the development confirmed the “interstate dimension” of the criminal network, adding that the investigation also uncovered an alleged ritual dimension to the operation of the group.

He said the suspects disclosed that when a child died in their custody, the body could be sold to ritualists, leading to the arrest of Muritala Fasasi, an islamic cleric, and Yakubu Azeez, a herbalist.

“Both have confessed their involvement in using them for ritual purposes,” he said.

Olugbenga listed the seven suspects arrested as Popoola, Janet, Joy, Jesse, Fasasi, Azeez and Ismaila Alabede.

The commissioner also said six children — Musharaf Lawal Tajudeen, 2; Greatness Adeagbo, 5; Sainat Amoo, 2; Taiwo Usman, 2; Daniel Solomon Olayinka, 7; and Miracle Olaniyi, 4 — died while in the custody of their abductors.

He urged parents and guardians who have lost children recently to visit the command headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, to identify the rescued children and facilitate their reunification with their families.

Olugbenga said the command was working with other security and government agencies to uncover the full structure of the network, locate other missing children and establish the circumstances surrounding the reported deaths.