The Anambra State Police Command has arrested a notorious child trafficker and owner of a brother in Oba, Idemili Local Government Area of the state, who uses underage girls as sex workers.
Oba youths and vigilantes raided the brothel on Friday morning, June 23, 2023 and discovered girls as young as 13.
The suspect popularly known as Ukwu Venza a.k.a Madam Padded, was arrested after the State Commissioner for Women and Children Affairs, Hon. Ify Obinabo, lured her to an undisclosed location in the state.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday, June 27, by the media aide to the Commissioner, Chidinma Ikeanyionwu, the suspect is allegedly responsible for the death of three sex workers after a fire outbreak in her former brothel in Nnewi four years ago.
On how she was able to get the suspect, Hon Obinabo noted that after her failed attempt to apprehend her, the suspect reached out to her for case settlement and possibly bribe her way through in what she called ‘water the ground’.
‘Obinabo went further to explain that the suspect sent the husband to tip her off with the sum of 300,000 hundred thousand naira to complete it with the sum of two million naira in Asaba but she persisted that she must see the suspect before any further discussion,’ the statement read.
The Women Affairs boss therefore warned that the government of Prof Chukwuma Soludo’s administration is out to deal with child offenders who carry out unimaginable activities in the state and that the ministry will not relent in apprehending perpetrators of sexual slavery in any guise.
Interrogating the woman, she denied ever sending her husband to ‘water the ground’ though she pleaded to be pardoned but did not say for what crime she committed.
Recall that Ukwu Venza aka Madam Padded was once running the trafficking business in Nnewi before moving to Oba to continue the same.
Ụkwụ Venza whose real name is Ekpereamaka Okonkwo a native of Otolo Nnewi was at 2019 responsible for the death of three sex workers after a fire outbreak in her shanty.
‘It was also discovered that the room where the burnt girls slept in was under lock and key by her as a way of preventing them from making extra money with their bodies.
‘According to the investigations, the parents of the deceased girls were compensated by the woman with the sum of 100,000 thousand naira which made them withdraw the case.’
