Operatives of the National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in
Persons, NAPTIP, and the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA, weekend,
rescued about 40 children from a torture chamber.
According to sources, the children, aged between five
and seven years, are taken to the said witch doctor, one Mr. Ikoh, at
the Torture Clinic in Mararaba area of Abuja, by parents and guardians
after they have been hypnotised by persons suspected to be working in
partnership with the witch doctor.
The children are then chained and tortured into confessing that they are
witches/wizards, after the parents or guardians of the children would
have been made to part with sums of money ranging from N50,000 to
N100,000.
The sources said the alleged witch doctor has raked in nothing less than
N10 million from unsuspecting members of the public within the last two
months alone.
It was further gathered that Ikoh maltreat the children to the point of death, sometimes through starvation and flogging.
Ikoh, who hails from Akoh village in Nasarawa State, has been handed
over to the Police and is said to have been in the business for several
months.
Officials of NAPTIP, while confirming the story, noted that the rescued
children are being moved to a facility where they will undergo medical
tests to ascertain the level of torture they were subjected to. The
impact of their experience on their mental state will also be
acsertained before working out how they can be reunited with their
families.
Vanguard