The police in Akwa Ibom State, South-south Nigeria, have arrested a man for allegedly selling his nine-year-old son for N400,000.
The police spokesperson in the state, Odiko Macdon, disclosed this in a statement on Monday.
He identified the suspect as Gabriel Ekpiri of Ekit Itam Akpan Obong in the Itu Local Government Area of the state.
Mr Macdon, a superintendent of police, said the suspect has confessed to the crime and blamed it on the “devil” and “economic hardship.”
He said the State Police Commissioner, Olatoye Durosinmi, has condemned the action describing it as “barbaric and unacceptable.”
The incident occurred three weeks after a High Court in the state sentenced three women to death for child trafficking.
The convicts, Enobong Sunday, Gertrude Thompson and Mary James, abducted three children and sold them off in Aba, Abia State.
One of the convicts, Mrs Thompson, from Ikot Eyo in Nsit Ubium Local Government Area, confessed to making N500,000 per child and N200,000 for those who brought the child for her.
