A man has been arrested by the police for allegedly offering his one-and-a-half-year-old son for sale at the Kokomba Market in Accra for GH¢200,000. The suspect, Mohammed Alhassan, 30, a resident of Sheshawu, near Tamale, was arrested in a hotel at Nungua where he had lured the 22-year-old mother of the child to enable him to steal the boy for the prospective buyer. His intention was to dope the mother before carrying out the act, for which reason he laced a bottle of malt with some sedatives to make her fall asleep. But it did not work on her. According to the Director of the Anti-Human Trafficking Unit of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service, Superintendent Patience Quaye, intelligence gathered on Monday, July 9, 2012 indicated that a man from Tamale was looking for a prospective buyer for his son at the Kokomba Market in Accra. She said based on that, a team of policemen were quickly dispatched to the market where they met Alhassan and one of them feigned interest in the sale. She said Alhassan then pegged the price for the boy at GH¢200,000 but the supposed buyer bargained and later arrived at GH¢120,000, after which the suspect directed the buyer to his hotel at Nungua for the conclusion of the deal. She said on Tuesday, July 10, 2012, Alhassan invited his son’s mother to the hotel. Shortly afterwards, a policeman disguised as an Alhaji showed up at the hotel and after discussions he ushered Alhassan and the woman into his car. The supposed Alhaji introduced himself as the one who had sent his assistant to the market to conclude the deal and gave the suspect some dollars for payment. The suspect insisted that he needed cedis and so they decided to drive to Accra to change the money. The man and the woman were ushered into the car the Alhaji brought and they set off for Accra, but on the way they branched to the CID Headquarters where the suspect was placed in custody. Supt Quaye said investigations revealed that Alhassan had impregnated the woman when she was in JSS Two in Tamale. She said Alhassan had denied responsibility for the pregnancy and when the baby was born he refused to cater for him, as a result of which the girl was sent from Tamale to live with her aunt at Nungua Zongo to enable her to learn a trade. Supt Quaye said nothing was heard from the suspect until last Sunday when he resurfaced in Accra and traced the girl to her aunt’s place at Nungua. When Alhassan met the girl’s mother and her aunt, he pleaded for forgiveness for his actions and promised to start taking care of the baby, with a promise that he would pay for all other expenses. Unknown to the girl and her aunt, Alhassan had hatched a plan to sell the baby. Supt Quaye said the suspect lodged at a hotel in Nungua and invited the woman there with the child for some money and she obliged. She said at the hotel, Alhassan offered the mother a malt drink laced with some drug to make her fall asleep but she did not. Thereafter, he lied to her that some people were coming to offer them money to enable them to take care of the child. She said it was after the arrest that the mother was informed about the intention of the suspect and she broke down in tears. Investigations are ongoing, after which the suspect will be arraigned.