Operatives attached to the Ogun State Police Command have successfully busted a calculated child-stealing syndicate operating within the Mowe metropolitan axis, arresting a married couple and rescuing three young children from their criminal custody.
The suspects, identified as Mathew Ugochukwu and his wife, Oluwarankami Kehinde Ugochukwu, were apprehended following an aggressive, intelligence-led raid executed by detectives from the Mowe Divisional Headquarters.
According to an official statement released on Wednesday by the command’s spokesperson, DSP Oluseyi Babaseyi, the targeted police action followed an emergency complaint lodged over the weekend by a heavily distressed mother residing in the Omo Onile area of Mowe.
The complainant stated that while she was actively receiving medical treatment inside a local clinic on Saturday, one of the suspects stealthily approached her bed under the calculated pretense of checking on her health condition.
Feigning compassion, the female suspect offered to hold the woman's four-month-old infant to allow the exhausted mother to rest, only to slip out of the hospital premises with the baby once the mother dozed off.
Unveiling the rapid rescue operation and the shocking history of the syndicate, DSP Babaseyi stated:
“Upon receipt of the report, detectives of the division were immediately mobilised.
Motor parks and strategic locations within the area were placed under surveillance while intelligence-led operations were intensified.
Acting on credible intelligence, detectives tracked the suspects to their hideout in the Kekere Ekun area of Mowe on 18/05/2026 at about 7:55 p.m., where the stolen child was rescued alongside two other children found in their possession.
Preliminary investigations showed that one of the other children found with the suspects had earlier been declared missing in a 2024 child-stealing case where the child was taken from a hairdressing salon using the same method of pretending to offer help.
The biological parents of two of the rescued children have been contacted and have positively identified their wards.”
The swift and professional response of the Mowe Division drew high commendation from the Commissioner of Police, Ogun State Command, CP Bode Ojajuni. CP Ojajuni reaffirmed the command's total, unyielding war against child trafficking, baby factories, and infant abductions within the state, noting that the case has been officially transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID) in Eleweran, Abeokuta, for rigorous prosecution.
He urged mothers to exercise extreme caution and remain highly vigilant regarding who they entrust their babies to in public institutions.
The operational breakthrough comes less than a week after a similar child-stealing ring involving three female traffickers was dismantled by police forces in Abia State.
#ChildStealing #OgunPolice #MoweCrime #BodeOjajuni #ChildTraffickingNigeria #MoweDivision #SCIDEleweran #InfantRescue
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