An evangelist with the Church of Christ, Seventh Day, Osaa-Ukwu, Abia , has been slammed in police cell for involvement in child trafficking.
Goodluck Mark, a dismissed policeman, was assigned by the community to hand over some arrested human traffickers and the N600,000 recovered from them to the police.
According to a local newspaper, Mark allegedly diverted the money, and freed the suspects rather than hand them over to the police.
The publication said a woman at the village connived with one man who owns a maternity home to sell her own baby for N600,000. But unfortunately they were caught by the youths of the community.
“The vigilante decided that they should be handed over to the police as law demands. Mark, who we know as a police officer, was called upon to take the suspects to the police station and register the case.
“The money realised from the sale of the baby was dug up from the ground where they buried it and handed over to the officer as evidence,” the paper reported, quoting a villager.
“But instead of handing the suspects over to the police, Mark released the two men involved to run away and warned them never to return to the community.
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“He also beat and threatened the child’s mother whom he also released. Some days later when the news of what happened got to the community, the police operatives were invited and they arrested him and took him to D7 in Umuahia.”
The case was later transferred to Zone 9, Umuahia for further investigation.
The leader of the Church of Christ, Seventh Day, Osaa-Ukwu, where the embattled evangelist worships, Apostle Jasper Ohuoba, confirmed his arrest.
But he said he did not know what led to Mark’s arrest.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Geoffrey Ogbonna, confirmed the incident, adding that the embattled evangelist was a dismissed police sergeant.