Operatives of the Imo State Police Command are yet to recover a child allegedly stolen by her uncle despite having the suspect in custody.

The child was allegedly stolen from her mother, identified as Chidinma Anyanwu, by her uncle, Enyinna Ibekwe, 50, on July 7, 2019, at Onicha, in Ezinihite Mbaise Local Government Area (LGA) of Imo State.

It was gathered that Ibekwe, a native of Umueleagwa Onicha, Ezinihite Mbaise LGA, had on the day gone out with the child. After returning home without the child, the mother demanded her child and the suspect asked her to follow him to get her child, but that on getting to a lonely place, he shot her in the chest.

Thinking she was dead, he absconded and abandoned her beside a pit. But the woman found her way to the road and sought assistance.

Spokesman of the police in the state, SP Orlando Ikeokwu, said on Sunday that even though Ibekwe had been arrested and was being prosecuted, the Police were still searching for the child. SP Ikeokwu, who was reacting to a criticism from an NGO, Genius Eyes International Foundation, that the Police were shielding the suspect because his wife was a personnel of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NCSDC), said the matter was personally being handled by the State Police Commissioner, Rabiu Ladodo. (Daily Trust)