The Oyo State Police Command says it has rescued 17 children and arrested seven suspects linked to an interstate child-stealing and trafficking syndicate operating across Oyo, Ogun and Delta states.
Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Abimbola Olugbenga, disclosed this on Tuesday while parading the suspects at the command headquarters in Ibadan.
Olugbenga said the investigation began following a petition dated July 29, 2026, submitted by Adejoke Popoola, also known as Orente Alagbo, over allegations including conspiracy, cyberbullying, threat to life and defamation.
He said detectives subsequently linked the case to the disappearance of three-year-old Ifakunle Ifagbenro, who went missing during a masquerade festival in Oyo town on June 29.
According to the commissioner, pictorial and video evidence from the event showed Popoola carrying the child shortly before he disappeared.
Popoola was arrested on August 4 and, according to the police, admitted leaving the festival with the child.
“Her statement provided the first major breakthrough into the wider criminal network,” Olugbenga said.
The commissioner said Popoola told investigators she had participated in the theft of more than 15 children, aged between two and seven, from churches, parties and other event venues within and outside Oyo State.
She allegedly identified Adekanbi Janet, also known as Hosanna, as her partner in the operation.
Olugbenga said Janet was arrested in Mowe, Ogun State, where four children aged between two and four were rescued, alongside two pregnant young women.
According to the police chief, Janet told investigators that some of the stolen children were kept in custody pending their sale, while the pregnant women were held until they gave birth.
He said information from Janet subsequently helped detectives locate Ifakunle, who was rescued around the Gbagi area of Ibadan on August 20.
Olugbenga said the investigation was later extended to Agbor in Delta State, where four children allegedly stolen from Oyo State were rescued from suspected buyers.
“Two suspects, identified as Christopher Joy, 48, and Rosemary Jesse, 53, were arrested in connection with the operation,” he said.
The commissioner said the arrests confirmed the interstate nature of the alleged criminal network and revealed what he described as a ritual dimension to the operation.
According to him, suspects told investigators that children who died while in their custody could be sold to ritualists.
This led to the arrest of Muritala Fasasi, an Islamic cleric, and Yakubu Azeez, a herbalist.
“Both have confessed their involvement in using them for ritual purposes,” Olugbenga said.
The seven suspects arrested were identified as Popoola, Janet, Joy, Jesse, Fasasi, Azeez and Ismaila Alabede.
The commissioner also disclosed that six children allegedly died while in the custody of the suspected abductors.
They were identified as Musharaf Lawal Tajudeen, two; Greatness Adeagbo, five; Sainat Amoo, two; Taiwo Usman, two; Daniel Solomon Olayinka, seven; and Miracle Olaniyi, four.
Olugbenga urged parents and guardians who have recently lost children to visit the command headquarters in Eleyele, Ibadan, to identify the rescued children and facilitate their reunification with their families.
He said the police were working with other security and government agencies to uncover the full structure of the alleged network, locate other missing children and establish the circumstances surrounding the reported deaths.
Boluwatife Enome
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