A woman, Deborah Ayeni, who had been deceiving her United Kingdom-based husband that she was pregnant, has been nabbed by the police in Ekiti State.
Ayeni was alleged to have stolen a newborn baby from a hospital in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on Monday.
The spokesperson for the command, Abutu Sunday, in a statement, revealed that the suspect was apprehended on Wednesday.
He disclosed that Ayeni confessed to the crime following her arrest.
The police stated that the investigation and interrogations revealed that Ayeni had been parading herself as pregnant for months to deceive her husband, who lives in the United Kingdom.
She reportedly maintained the charade while receiving money from him under the pretext of prenatal care and decided to steal the baby to conceal her lies.
The stolen child has since been recovered and reunited with the biological parents.
The PPRO noted that further investigation was ongoing, and the suspect would be prosecuted accordingly.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Joseph Eribo, the statement further revealed, urged the public to remain security conscious and support law enforcement agencies with timely and credible information to help curb crime.
The statement reads, “The suspect, after her arrest, confessed to the commission of the crime, and the child has been recovered from her.
“Investigation revealed that the suspect has been going about with a fake pregnancy and has been lying to the husband, who stays in the UK, that she was pregnant.
”She confessed that her decision to look for a child to steal was to cover up her lies about the fake pregnancy, since she had already collected a lot of money from the husband.
“The recovered child has been handed over to the parents, while the suspect will be further investigated and prosecuted accordingly.
Furthermore, the statement disclosed that, “The Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Joseph Eribo, while calling on everyone to be security conscious all round and at all times, implores citizens to continue to support and cooperate with the police by supplying credible and timely information that can lead to the arrest of criminal elements in society.”