ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- A suspected member of a child-trafficking syndicate in Oyo State, Adejoke Popoola, has allegedly confessed to selling children she gave birth to and stealing others for onward sale.
Popoola, who spoke to journalists at the Oyo State Police Command headquarters in Ibadan on Monday, claimed she had been involved in the illicit trade since October 2024.
She alleged that she sold a newborn boy and a set of twins, revealing that the twins fetched N300,000 when she sold them to a clinic in Ogeere.
According to her, she received between N80,000 and N120,000 for some of the children she allegedly sold.
“I have sold two sets of children, a newborn boy and twins as well, last year. I sold the twins to clinic; she also resells them to her customers in Lagos. She has a baby industry,” Popoola said.
She claimed that the children were sometimes sold when their mothers or owners rejected the pregnancies.
The suspect, who said she had seven children of her own, also admitted to allegedly stealing children from unsuspecting families.
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“I steal babies. I will go to their place and say I want to rent a house. Then, if I do not see anyone, if I see their children, I will just steal their children,” she said.
Popoola further alleged that she sometimes disguised herself as a spiritualist to gain access to children, particularly those living with disabilities.
She claimed that she would promise desperate parents that she could heal children who could not walk, sit or speak, while allegedly taking another child to them.
The suspect said she learnt some of the methods from a woman she met while working at Ogeere Market.
One of the cases she recounted involved a three-year-old boy, Ifakunle Ifagbenro, whom she allegedly abducted during an Egungun festival in Oyo Town.
Popoola said she travelled to the area on a motorcycle and joined a prayer session at the home where the festival procession was taking place.
According to her, she later volunteered to help carry the child when he joined the procession.
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“When the Egungun left, the boy told his mother that he did not want to stay at home and wanted to join the procession. So, I volunteered to help hold the boy,” she said.
She alleged that she eventually carried the boy on her back and fled with him.
Popoola also claimed that 19 children had passed through her hands, but six of them died while 13 survived.
“About six children died from the 19 children I have kidnapped, but 13 are alive,” she said.
The revelations came as the Oyo State Police Command announced a major breakthrough in its investigation into an alleged interstate child-stealing and trafficking network.
The Commissioner of Police, Abimbola Olugbenga, said detectives had rescued 17 children and arrested seven suspects following an intelligence-led investigation.
Olugbenga said the investigation began with a petition dated July 29, 2026, submitted by Popoola, also known as Orente Alagbo, but later expanded after detectives uncovered links to the disappearance of Ifakunle during a masquerade festival in Oyo Town on June 29.
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The police boss said photographs and video recordings from the event showed Popoola carrying the missing child, while further investigation allegedly established that she was with him around the time he disappeared.
According to Olugbenga, Popoola was arrested on August 4 and allegedly made statements that helped investigators uncover her alleged involvement in the disappearance of more than 15 children aged between two and seven.
The children were allegedly taken from churches, parties and other social gatherings within and outside Oyo State.
Olugbenga said Popoola subsequently identified Adekanbi Janet, also known as Hosanna, as an alleged accomplice.
Janet was reportedly traced to Mowe, Ogun State, where police rescued four children aged between two and four, as well as two pregnant young women allegedly being held in her custody.
The police commissioner said investigators were told that some of the stolen children were kept until buyers were found, while pregnant women were allegedly kept under supervision until they delivered.
Information obtained from the investigation also led detectives to the rescue of Ifakunle in the Gbagi area of Ibadan on August 20.
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The investigation subsequently spread beyond Oyo State, with detectives travelling to Agbor, Delta State, on September 2, where four children allegedly stolen from Oyo were rescued.
Two suspects, Christopher Joy, 48, and Rosemary Jesse, 53, were arrested during the operation.
The police said the investigation had also uncovered an alleged ritual dimension to the network.
Olugbenga alleged that suspects disclosed that children who died in their custody were sometimes sold to suspected ritualists, leading to the arrest of Muritala Fasasi, an Alfa, and Yakubu Azeez, a herbalist.
The command identified the six children reportedly killed as Musharaf Lawal Tajudeen, two; Greatness Adeagbo, five; Sainat Amoo, two; Taiwo Usman, two; Daniel Solomon Olayinka, seven; and Miracle Olaniyi, four.
Olugbenga appealed to parents and guardians whose children had gone missing to visit the command headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, to check whether any of the rescued children belonged to them.
He said the command would continue its investigation into the alleged syndicate and efforts to reunite rescued children with their families.