A 30-year-old woman, Mrs. Peace Chukwuemeka, has told the police in Akwa Ibom State that she stole a one-month-old baby because she had been married for 10 years without a child.

Chukwuemeka from Mbano Imo State was arrested for allegedly stealing the baby belonging to Mrs. Fatima Ibrahim in Uyo. The suspect used the period of her visit to a relation who lives in the same compound with Ibrahim to steal the baby. Chukwuemeka, who confessed to the crime, blamed devil and frustration as the reason for committing the crime.

The suspect also said that all her efforts to conceive and have her own children had proved abortive. She said: “Please it is the devil that pushed me. I have been married for 10 years without a child and all my efforts to have one have not yielded any result yet.”

The baby’s mother told our correspondent that the suspect gave her juice and plantain meal which was drugged to get her into deep sleep before stealing her baby.

Police have also arrested Chief Iboro Ukpe for allegedly plotting to kill the paramount ruler of Oruk Anam Local Government Area of the state. However, Ukpe told our correspondent that he only hired native doctors to make medicine for him for protection.

He said: “They brought the ‘juju’ where we were having a meeting of chiefs with the paramount ruler when the police swooped on them and arrested them. “The juju here (pointing at the charm) is for my protection from those planning to kill me; it was not to kill the paramount ruler.”

Parading the suspects, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Cordelia Nwawe, said Chukwuemeka drugged Ibrahim and fled with her child to Mbano, Imo State where the police traced and arrested her.

She also confirmed that the surveillance team followed up the alleged assassination plot by Ukpe against the paramount ruler to the point of execution before he was nabbed.

Nwawe warned women to be wary of the friends they keep and from accepting unnecessary gifts from strangers. The PPRO promised that the suspects would be prosecuted once investigations were concluded.