Three children identified as Chibugo Eze, Chinenye Eze, and Ebuka Ene, who went missing after they went to fetch water at a commercial borehole owned and located at the home of a former police office have been found dead in a car parked at the compound.
The 3 dead bodies were discovered at the home of the retired police officer located at Ugwu Ogede in Itchi, Igbo-Eze South Local Government Area of Enugu State on Monday, November 23.
According to reports, other two children named Kingsley Eze, and Mmasichukwu were equally rescued from the same car.
Narrating how it happened, the children claimed that three hooded men abducted them and left them in the car.
They added that the hoodlums returned in the middle of the night to take them away but they couldn’t open the car doors which were faulty, so they abandoned them and ran away.
The traditional ruler of the community, HRH, Igwe Ike Oke, who confirmed the incident said that he mobilised personnel of vigilante and Forest Guard groups who joined in the search of the missing children.
He said:
“We were almost frustrated in our search when a community member who went to fetch water heard the voice of a little child calling her name. She traced the voice to a car that had been parked for over six months in the compound where she discovered the children and raised the alarm.
“We found three of the children already dead by the time we opened the car. I think they suffocated to death because the car doors were stiffed when we tried to open it at first but we engaged an artisan who forced it open. One of the two children rescued said they went to fetch water but didn’t meet anyone at the borehole because the owner and the entire members of the family had gone to church service,”
“He informed us that they were about going home when three hooded men came from a hill beside the scene of the incident and abducted them into the car and left. He said they were all dressed in red cloths. He also said that the hoodlums returned at the middle of the night to take them away but they couldn’t open the car doors because they were stiffed. We are still investigating the incident and the dead victims have been deposited in the mortuary. The owner of the house has been arrested by police.”
At the time of this report, the circumstances surrounding the death of the children is yet to be known as the community is working tirelessly to unravel the misery behind the tragic incident.
