Suspect Confesses to Selling Own Babies and Stealing 19 Minors

​The Oyo State Police Command has smashed an interstate child-stealing and trafficking syndicate, rescuing 17 children and arresting seven suspects, including a prime suspect who confessed to trading her own offspring and abducting dozens of minors.

​The breakthrough followed an intelligence-led operation sparked by a petition dated July 29, 2026, submitted by one of the key suspects, Adejoke Popoola, also known as Orente Alagbo. Investigators soon connected the probe to the high-profile disappearance of a three-year-old boy, Ifakunle Ifagbenro, who went missing during an annual masquerade festival in Oyo Town on June 29.

​According to the Commissioner of Police, Abimbola Olugbenga, surveillance footage from the event placed Popoola at the scene carrying the toddler before she vanished. Following her arrest on August 4, Popoola allegedly confessed to a wide-ranging criminal enterprise spanning multiple states since October 2024.

​During interrogation at the command headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, Popoola admitted to selling two sets of her own children—including a newborn and a pair of twins traded to a clinic in Ogeere for N300,000—alongside numerous other stolen minors. She revealed that she targeted vulnerable locations such as churches, parties, and festivals, occasionally posing as a spiritualist offering healing to parents of disabled children or pretending to rent houses to snatch unattended minors.

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​The investigation rapidly expanded beyond Oyo State. Popoola’s disclosures led detectives to an alleged accomplice, Adekanbi Janet (aka Hosanna), in Mowe, Ogun State, where authorities rescued four children and two pregnant young women. Further police operations stretched to Agbor, Delta State, resulting in the rescue of four additional children and the arrest of two suspected buyers, Christopher Joy and Rosemary Jesse.

​Authorities also uncovered a grim ritual dimension to the syndicate. Investigators found that children who died in captivity were allegedly sold to ritualists, leading to the arrest of an Alfa, Muritala Fasasi, and a herbalist, Yakubu Azeez.

​Police records indicate that out of 19 children allegedly kidnapped by the network, 17 have been successfully rescued, while six tragically died while in custody. The deceased victims have been identified as Musharaf Lawal Tajudeen, Greatness Adeagbo, Sainat Amoo, Taiwo Usman, Daniel Solomon Olayinka, and Miracle Olaniyi.

​The command has called on members of the public, particularly parents who have lost children in recent times, to visit the headquarters in Eleyele to identify the rescued children and aid the reunification process.