The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, in a statement on Monday, explained that the suspect was arrested following a complaint lodged at the Sagamu divisional headquarters.

The PPRO said, “One Victoria Nwafor reported that she saw a 14-year-old girl on December 22, 2021, with a very sick two-year-old boy in Yaba, Lagos.

“She stated further that the little girl was begging for alms under the pretence that the small boy was her younger brother and that their parents died in a ghastly accident in December 2020.

“Out of compassion, the woman took both of them to her house in Sagamu in order to take care of the little boy’s deteriorating health condition.

“But immediately the boy fully recovered, the suspect wanted to single-handedly take the boy to Imo State.

“This aroused the woman’s suspicion, hence, she reported.

“Upon the report, the DPO Sagamu division, CSP Okiki Agunbiade, detailed his detectives to go and bring the girl and the little boy.

“On interrogation, the girl confessed that she was a maid to the mother of the little boy, and that she left with the boy since December 19, 2021 with the intention of taking the boy to Amaraku Umorsu in the Isiala/Mbano Local Government Area of Imo State.

“She stated further that she took the baby from a church during Sunday school, and since the Sunday school teacher knew her with the baby’s mother, she had no problem releasing the baby to her.

“She explained further that she decided to beg for alms in order to raise transport fare to Imo State.”

Oyeyemi said the state Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, had ordered that the baby’s parents be contacted immediately.

According to him, the commissioner also ordered that the case be forwarded to the Lagos State Police Command in whose jurisdiction the crime was committed.