Children approaching cars at traffic stops are a familiar sight on Nigerian roads.
Some are begging. Others sell snacks, newspapers or small items.
But police say some children are being used for something far more organised: helping criminals steal from motorists.
According to the Nigerian Police, some children are being recruited to approach drivers and distract them while other members of the group steal from the vehicle.
The method is simple.
A child approaches the car, often appearing to beg for money or ask the driver for something. While the driver is focused on the child, another person allegedly moves to the other side of the vehicle and takes valuables.
Police said some of the children involved told authorities they were paid between ₦500 and ₦1,000 after helping with the thefts.
That means the children may be only the most visible part of a larger operation.
Police say some children were brought from other states
The police also said some of the children encountered during the operation had allegedly been brought in from other states and left on the streets for the purpose of committing crimes.
Some reportedly told investigators that adults would send them out to steal and then give them money to buy food.
Police are now trying to find out who is behind the recruitment.
The children are being questioned about the people who allegedly send them to carry out the thefts, according to the police account.
The allegation could not be independently verified from the recording, but if established, it would mean the children are not simply young offenders acting on their own. They would also be victims of exploitation by adults.
What happens to the children?
This creates a difficult problem for law enforcement.
Some of the children are young enough that authorities cannot simply treat them like adult criminal suspects.
Police said the children are instead being taken to social-welfare facilities, where they can receive rehabilitation and potentially be reunited with their families.
The approach is designed to deal with two problems at the same time: keeping the children away from criminal networks and finding the adults responsible for recruiting them.
But removing a child from the street does not necessarily remove the criminal network.
If the person recruiting the child remains free, another vulnerable child can potentially take their place.
Why children are being used
Children can be useful to criminals because they attract less suspicion.
A motorist who sees a child approaching the window may instinctively pay attention to the child rather than what is happening around the vehicle.
That moment of distraction can give another person an opportunity to open a door, reach through a window or take something from the other side of the car.
The police account suggests the children are therefore being used as decoys, rather than necessarily being responsible for the entire operation themselves.
And the payment involved is strikingly small.
Police said some children were receiving just ₦500 or ₦1,000 after participating in the thefts.
For a child struggling to find food, however, even a small payment can become an incentive to return.
The problem goes beyond robbery
The allegations point to a wider problem facing Nigerian authorities: vulnerable children can become easy targets for adults looking for cheap and expendable labour.
Children living or spending long periods on the streets may have limited access to school, stable family support or basic welfare services.
That makes it easier for criminal groups to recruit them.
The police account also included an allegation involving children and a violent attack on a woman. The recording does not provide enough independent evidence to establish the circumstances of that incident or show how common such violence is.
But it illustrates the potential consequences when children are drawn into criminal networks.
Police are looking for the people behind them
For the police, the bigger target may not be the child standing beside a vehicle.
It is the person who sent the child there.
Authorities said they are questioning the children and offering small payments for information that could help identify those directing them.
The children are also being referred to social-welfare services rather than simply being left on the streets after enforcement operations.
That creates a second responsibility for the authorities: finding their families and determining why they ended up on the streets in the first place.
The police revelation therefore points to a problem that cannot be solved by simply clearing children from busy roads.
The immediate concern is theft.
The bigger question is who is recruiting these children, where they are coming from and how many more are being drawn into the same system.
