Police detain 7-month-old baby, parents over N20,000 debt

A SEVEN – MONTH old baby boy, Uchenna Nwoye, his parents and two others were allegedly arrested and detained by the police in Onitsha over N20 000 debt owed by the parents.

They were arrested at Ifitedunu in Dunukofia local government area of Anambra State by policemen from Fegge Police Stattion, Onitsha, for failure to pay the N20,000 to a woman Uchenna’s father allegedly did business with.

Narrating the incident to newsmen, yesterday, in Onitsha, mother of the boy, 23-year-old Mrs. Ukamaka Nwoye, said they were whisked away by the policemen without any reason, adding that   they were fast asleep when heavily armed policemen numbering over 20 forced open their door and arrested all the occupants, including the 7-months-old boy.

She said:  “On November 7, at about 2.30am, we were all asleep when suddenly, some policemen came into our compound and forced their way into our house and arrested us, including my 7-month-old baby.They took us to their bus and whisked us away to a place we later found out was Fegge Police Station, Onitsha.

“They denied us the opportunity to call any of our relations. It was one of the policemen who saw how my child was almost suffocating inside the cell that secretly helped me to call one of my brothers and I told him where we were being detained. We spent over seven days in detention.”