A kidnap suspect, on Thursday, claimed she joined a gang that specialises in kidnapping and selling of babies over a life-threatening illness.

Oluwatoyin Lasisi was paraded for stealing three-year-old baby, Nimotallah Sulaiman, in the Muslim area of Ibadan, Oyo State.

She said she did not know when she picked up the baby from a waste dump and took her home.

Lasisi said,

“I was going to where I beg for alms around a bakery in the Muslim area when I saw the baby. I reasoned that it won’t be good to allow her to be stolen by ritualists and that was why I picked her up.

“When I got to my house, a woman in my neighbourhood challenged me as to where I got the baby from. I was heading for the police station to report the incident when some people accosted me and started beating me.”

The father of the victim, Sulaiman Dauda, said the baby was stolen from a waste dump, where she went to defecate around 11am.

The state Commissioner of Police, Shina Olukolu, confirmed the incident and said the case was being investigated.