Police in Lagos State have arrested a mother for attempting to kill her sick baby, using a poisonous insecticide known as Sniper.
Police spokesman in the state, Benjamin Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday that the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba reported the attempt to the police on Friday.
He said the chief security officer at the hospital reported to the police that the mother brought her 19-month-old daughter to the hospital for treatment.
He added that the mother confessed to a doctor at the hospital that she gave the child Sniper to drink when her convulsion was not abating.
“The mother said she gave the liquid to her child so she could rest from her excessive convulsions.
“Detectives were immediately dispatched to the hospital where they met the baby receiving treatment.
“The mother has been taken in for investigation after the child had received treatment,” Hundeyin said.
In another development, policemen attached to the Abia State command have raided a baby factory in Aba, the commercial nerve of the state, rescuing no fewer than 16 pregnant girls.
Although the location of the baby factory was yet to be disclosed at the time of filing this report as investigation into the matter was ongoing, the command’s spokesperson, Maureen Chinaka, who confirmed the action of the men of the command, said the police operatives from the Rapid Response Squad (RRS) also rescued eight children made up of five males and three females from the illegal home.
The identity of the pregnant girls showed that majority of them hail from neighbouring Akwa Ibom and Cross River states.
The PPRO disclosed that both the pregnant females and children whose parents were yet-to-be traced were under the custody of one Mrs. Onyinyechi Okoro (29), an indigene of Ihechiowa in Arochukwu Local Government Area of the state and one Mr. Ekene Okezie (32) from Aro-Ndizuogu in Ideato Local Government area, Imo State.
She disclosed that the police were able to record the huge success because they acted on credible intelligence.
Chinaka, who assured that the police in the state was committed to ensuring the security and safety of all law-abiding residents of the state, also assured that the police were committed to working tirelessly to ensure that other syndicates to the group were apprehended.
