BY ABDULGAFAR OLADIMEJI, KANO
Operatives of the Kano State police command have reportedly arrested two suspected masterminds of the kidnapping of a day-old child in Kano.
The suspected kidnappers, 22-year-old Maryam Sadiq, and her husband, Abubaka, 50-year-old, residents of Rijiyar Zaki Quarters, Kano, are now said to be cooling their heels in police custody.
The police public relations officer, DSP Abdullahi Haruna Kiyawa, said that a man called Rabi’u Muhammad, resident of Gayawa Quarters, Ungogo Local Government Council Area of Kano, reported at the station that his one-day-old child was missing.
Kiyawa said that the complainant told to the police that his wife delivered a set of twins at the Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital, Kano where she was on admission on September 7, 2021.
According to the PPRO, the complainant claimed that one of the newborn babies was abducted while his sister-in-law, who was looking after the babies at the corridor of the maternity ward, slept off.
It was learnt that when she woke up, she realized that one of the babies had been taken away by an unknown person.
“Upon receiving the report, the Commissioner of Police, Kano State Command, Sama’ila Shu’aibu Dikko, dispatched a team of detectives, led by SP Daniel Itse Amah, to rescue the victim and arrest the culprits.
“The team launched a search. The hospital was sealed off and thoroughly combed, but the child could not be found immediately.
“On preliminary investigation, Maryam confessed that the child was taken away from Muhammad Abdullahi Wase Teaching Hospital, Kano. She claimed that she acted under the influence of her husband who had been longing to have a male child,” he said.
Our correspondent gathered that the suspects caught the attention of neighbours, when they staged a party to celebrate the birth of a new child to the amazement of members of the community, who were said to have been puzzled that they were not aware that Mariam was pregnant with a baby.
