Anxiety as woman abducts neighbour’s four kids in Imo community

A middle-aged woman has abducted her neighbour’s four kids in Amako Autonomous community, Umuaka in Njaba Local Government Area of Imo State to an unknown destination.

The incident has thrown the community into confusion and anxiety as the whereabouts of the kids remained unknown.

Village sources revealed that the four kids, whose ages range between four and nine, were playing at their house in Amako alongside four other children when a neighbour (name unknown) took them to the barbing salon.

One of the villagers said: “The mother of the kids, Madam Chinasa, had gone to Afor Umuaka Market, leaving her four children at home to play with other children.

“Two of the four abducted children belong to her while the other two playing with them are her elder sister’s children living in the same house.

“But when the abductor who came to the area new told the children to follow her to a barbing salon to cut their hair, the kids were happy to follow her. She took them away and never came back.

“It was the mother who reported the issue to the police after she had searched everywhere for the children without success.

“The victims’ mother, Chinasa, said that the new neighbour was only two days old in the compound and was not that close to her. Although she played with and admired her children, they had not exchanged phone numbers to know where to find her.

“She gave the children’s names as Joy, Charles, Jemine and Pere Ebi.

“Six days after, the kids are nowhere to be found and the woman is also at large. Both the police and other security agents have tried in vain to locate the hideout of the abductor.”

An indigene of the Amako community, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the local vigilante group which earlier waded into the matter before calling the attention of the police, had apprehended the house agent who brought in the woman as well as the landlord, but each of them claimed not to know much about the woman.

“Whatever reason those little children were abducted has remained a mystery. It is six days now, yet they have not been found, including the lady who took them out for barbing.

“The 11 communities in Umuaka including the Ugbelle-Akah Autonomous community are in great fear as all the efforts made by the Akah-Ebiri Security Network comprising 10 autonomous communities have been to no avail.”

When contacted, the Imo State Police Spokesman, ASP Henry Okoye, said he was yet to confirm the incident.