Three men have been convicted and sentenced by the Federal High Court in Calabar for trafficking a two-year-old boy from Bunyia Community in Boki Local Government Area of Cross River State.
The convicts, Felix Iorlumun, 18; Silas Shie, 19; and Samuel Moses, 27, were convicted on charges of conspiracy and transporting the child by means of abduction for the purpose of exploitation.
The case was prosecuted by the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), Cross River State Command, under the Trafficking in Persons (Prohibition), Enforcement and Administration Act 2015.
The three men were said to have abducted the child, identified as Wisdom Emmanuel Achua, from Bunyia and taken him to Mbube Community in Ogoja Local Government Area, allegedly with plans to move him to Benue State.
They were intercepted by community vigilantes in Mbube, who alerted NAPTIP, leading to the agency taking over the investigation and prosecution.
The accused pleaded guilty when they were arraigned before the court in October.
Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Justice Rosemary Oghoghorie convicted the three men on all the counts and imposed prison terms and fines.
Iorlumun and Shie were each sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and fined N250,000 on each of counts one and two, with the sentences to run concurrently.
Moses also received two years’ imprisonment and a N250,000 fine on each of counts one and two, to run concurrently.
On count three, Moses was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and fined N1m, with the sentence also to run concurrently.
The judgment was delivered at the Federal High Court, Calabar Judicial Division.
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