Fear has enveloped the Amaraku market in the Isiala Mbano council area of Imo state, following the stealing of a 7-month-old baby by a suspected child traffic syndicate, on Friday.
It was gathered the incident has caused tension within the area as the residents continued to assist in the search for the missing child.
An eyewitness a woman and a trader, who did not want her name mentioned, narrated the incident saying that the suspected child trafficker, targeted the crying baby wrapped on her mother’s back (a trader) in her shop struggling to sell her foodstuff.
The suspect approached the woman and offered to assist her carry the crying baby and even collected a wrapper from the mother of the child. But in the process, as the mother of the child was still selling her wares the suspected child trafficker disappeared with the baby to an unknown location.
According to the eyewitness, “I was buying some foodstuff at Amaraku market when a woman started shouting, ‘My baby, my baby, where is my baby?’
“She had given her 7-month-old baby out to a stranger while she was selling Okro and other vegetables because the baby was crying and disturbing. The stranger carried the baby on her back but later disappeared into the crowd. When the woman realized the woman was no longer in sight, she started shouting and crying.
“Other traders around helped to search for the woman but could not find her. The woman may have been charmed by the stranger because no one in her right senses will release her baby in such an environment with over ten thousand buyers and sellers. What is she going to tell her husband?”
When contacted Henry Okoye, the Imo police spokesperson promised to get back to our correspondent as at press time.
