Faith Nyasuguta
Police in Liberia have nabbed a 29-year-old Sierra Leonean man and charged him with attempting to sell his 10-year-old son.
The man says it was a desperate move to raise funds to replace a stolen motorbike.
On his arrest, the man informed investigating officers in the capital, Monrovia, that he required some $1,000 as the bike, which he had borrowed, had been stolen from his home.
He added that he had been informed the only way to raise this much funds quickly was to go to neighboring Liberia in a bid to find a buyer for his son.
At home, people had informed him that it would be easy to do that kind of business over the border.
The trade had been arranged via a middleman in December. As per the negotiations, the boy was reportedly referred to as a chicken and not a human being to avoid suspicion.
Despite that, the police were tipped off and the father was nabbed as the buyers were reportedly on their way to collect the boy from a town outside Monrovia.
Liberia’s online publication Global News Network says the child is currently under the care of the gender ministry.
In West Africa, human trafficking is a major issue.
Currently, children sold into modern slavery are not allowed to contact their families and are often forced to work as domestic servants or labourers.
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