The Delta State Police Command says investigations have revealed that the 11-year-old girl arrested at the Ekpan Police Division was being used to traffic hard drugs.
SP Bright Edafe, the command’s spokesperson, made the announcement on Friday on his official X feed, following social media outcry over the child’s arrest and detention.
Kat, a Nigerian woman who tweets as #Living_JustCus, claimed she paid N500,000 to secure the minor’s release after police detained her and adult suspects who were allegedly caught with hard drugs in a commercial tricycle.
Kat wrote, “You want to know how useless the Nigerian police is?
“Well, I’m just now leaving the station at almost 2am in the morning, where we used 500k to bail an 11-year-old girl that was arrested inside a keke she entered while coming back from a lesson with some boys that carried drugs.
“Her mom (a widow) had almost lost her mind in panic looking for her only child.
“They arrested this girl along with the boys and the keke man, kept her in custody since 4pm, and didn’t even bother trying to contact her parents.
“We went to drop a statement in the station and found them there.”
In reaction, the police command on Thursday condemned the incident and asked her to come forward with evidence of the incident.
However, Edafe, in an update on Friday, confirmed that the child was arrested and had confessed to knowing and handling hard drugs.
Edafe further stated that the girl admitted to being used by a woman she referred to as her “mummy” to move drugs, believing her age would help evade suspicion.
Edafe said, “A woman whom the little girl identified as her mummy sent her to move drugs, thinking she wouldn’t be searched, being a little girl. The little girl herself identified the drugs as Molly, CSC codeine, and Black Diamond.
“When she was asked how long she had been helping the woman, the little girl said she started last week. But what shocked me the most in her video confession is how she knows the names of these dangerous drugs at just 11 years old.
“If I am lying, let them come and prove me wrong. Perhaps the embarrassing video might just be published for all to see.”
The police, at the time of filing this report, had yet to confirm if the woman allegedly using the child had been arrested.
