BEVERLY HILLS, March 29, (THEWILL) – A joint force of youth leaders and vigilante operatives from Itu and Uruan communities of Akwa Ibom State at the weekend rescued Mrs. Grace Sampson Akpan and her two sons from suspected human traffickers.
Narrating her ordeal on her Life Hope Hospital bed in Enen Atai Itam, Itu LGA, Grace Akpan, a native of Ikot Usen in Ibiono Ibom Local Government Area said her sister-in-law, Mmandu Akpan, had visited her on Friday, March 19, 2021, in her husband’s family compound.
The woman said: “She requested that I follow her to her elder sister’s house where she (Mandi) had, arranged with her sister to keep pumpkin leaves (Ugwu) for me to buy in bulk for retail in our village market.
“As a petty trader, I jumped at it. Since there was nobody in the house, I went with my two children; Malachi and Hezekiah aged three and nine months old respectively.
“On the way, she told me to accompany her to know her rented apartment in Ekim Itam, so she could change up before proceeding to the elder sister’s where the pumpkin leaf was.
“On getting there, she cooked coconut rice for me and my children and deployed delaying tactics to make sure we stayed till it was dark not minding the distance to my home.
“Late in the evening, Mmandu had a male visitor; with whom she had a lengthy discussion outside her room. She arranged a cyclist, late in the evening to take us back home.
“The cyclist ignored my repeated complaint that the route he took was not familiar to me but told me it was a short cut to my destination.
“When we got to a deserted area in Ikõt Ayan Itam, close to ‘Idim Abaak’, towards Ifiayong Obot, in Northern Uruan, he stopped, came down and held my throat. My children fell down and screaming. He pushed me from the motorcycle and brought out a knife to behead me. I struggled in vain to get off his grip so I pretended I was dead.
“At that point, they zoomed off with my sons; abandoning my ‘body’ there. I was unconscious until I found myself in the hospital.”
Grace narreted in vernacular.
According to sources at Ikot Ayan where she was rescued, on hearing struggles and screams, Ifiayong Obot children who were searching for snails in a bush around the vicinity ran to the village and alartted the Youth Leader, Mr. Ita Ekanem, who contacted his Ikõt Ayan Itam counterpart, Mr Emmanuel Ntukidem, even as the community vigilante groups in the three neighbouring communities were immediately alerted.
They sprang into action first rushing to the scene to rescue the woman; who was bleeding profusely from the deep cut on her neck.
While the youth leaders took her to the hospital, others went to the Mmandu’s residence in Ekim Itam, where the journey to arrest all the suspects began.
The Youth Leader of Ekim Itam, Mr. Saviour Edem, with his vigilante boys, got to the suspects’ residence where they were identified and search parties were sent to cordon off their areas of operations.
Mmandu was identified with a fake name, Ekem-ini; while her accomplices were identified as Gideon and Benjamin who had absconded from their residence at the moment.
A co-tenant, Lucy Ekpenyong, and others, confirmed the suspects were their neighbours whose occupation and place of origin were unknown to them, hinting that the suspects left the residence earlier in the day with no information on their destination and mission.
Investigation revealed that one of them, known as Benjamin a.k.a (Anua-õtõ), was often found in Oku Iboku.
Thus, a call was put through to a contact in Oku Iboku, who confirmed his presence as at that time.
Consequently, the Oku Iboku vigilante members consented to a plea to arrest him.
They did so and handed him over to the youth leaders on the mission at the Ayadehe junction, from where the suspect was eventually handed over to the police at the Itu Divisional Police Headquartres in Ayadehe.
Benjamin is said to have confessed to the crime and hinted that the two children were custodied in Ikõt Annie Itam; from where they would be sold to a buyer before 5am on Saturday, March 20, 2021.
He confessed that kidnapping, trafficking and killing people for money were their sources of livelihood over the years.
With the hint from Benjamin on the whereabout of the children, they hurriedly located the compound where the children were custodied in Ikõt Annie.
Mmandu, and her brother; Effiõk Edem Akpan, were in custody of the children and were apprehended even as the children were rescued and reunited with their mother.
The suspects disclosed that a nurse, simply identified as Joy, had already been contacted to sell the two children to a ready buyer.
The nurse who was also apprehended confessed to having sold many children through the same process.
Dr. Uwem Ibanga, the proprietor of Hope Alive Hospital, said Grace was responding to treatment saying that although the cut was deep, no vital organ was destroyed.
The suspects who had since been moved to the State Police Headquarters, Ikot Akpan Abia, were recently paraded before the public.
The State Commissioner of Police, CP Amiengheme Andrew, who paraded the suspects said all the persons confessed to the crime and would be charged to court.
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