The police in Lagos have arrested a middle-aged woman, Mary Henry, for allegedly abducting two children in the Yaba area of the state.
The suspect, who lives on Akanni Street, Somolu, was reportedly caught with the kids – Mukaila Ya’u, 10, and Mariam Jubril, 2 – along Herbert Macaulay Way, Yaba.
Punch Metro gathered that Ya’u was sent on an errand around 10am on Wednesday and Jubril had followed him.
They were running the errand when Henry reportedly lured them.
A Punch correspondent gathered that the woman was fleeing with the kids when she was trailed by a team of policemen from the Sabo division, led by the Divisional Police Officer, CSP Mary Ubangha.
While parading the suspect at the Lagos State Police Command headquarters in Ikeja, the Commissioner of Police, Edgal Imohimi, said the woman ran into a church with the victims.
He said, “The DPO observed the woman’s worried countenance and felt something was amiss. She decided to trail her. The suspect, however, noticed that she was under surveillance and diverted into Saint Dominic Catholic Church, Yaba.
“The DPO followed her and warned the church security men to keep an eye on the woman and never allow her exit the church without the police ascertaining the identities of the children with her. The security man obliged and brought the woman and the children to the DPO.
“During interrogation, it was discovered that she was not the biological mother of the children, who are of different parents. Investigation into the case is ongoing.”
Imohimi added that the police were on the trail of the suspect’s brother, believed to be her accomplice in the alleged abduction.
But the suspect, who was aggressive, said her daughter was with one Shitan.
She was evasive when asked whether she abducted the children in retaliation, adding that Shitan had earlier visited the command on Wednesday.
She said, “I did nothing. You (the police) are making a false accusation against me. They arrested me for no just cause. God will bear me witness. My daughter, Ada, is with Shitan.”
