Very often media reports center around the discovery of baby factories in the South South and South East and rarely do such stories come out of the South West, however due to the thriving nature of the illicit, immoral and illegal business, some operators are branching out and carrying out their nefarious activities in the old Western region.
SUN reports
A baby-making factory has been uncovered in Akute, Ifo Local Government Area of Ogun State where eight pregnant women, including a 16-year-old girl, were rescued by the police.
The proprietor of the factory, Mrs. Angela Chigoeze, and her brother-in-law, Obinna Ndunaga, have also been arrested by the police during a raid by the police command on Thursday.
The state Commissioner of Police, Ikemefuna Okoye, while conducting journalists round a bungalow which serves as their abode, disclosed that a baby sold for N300,000 each.
According to him, pregnant young girls were usually offered what he described as pittance after delivery and their babies taken from them and later sold to unknown people.
The police boss, who attributed the discovery to intelligence gathering and robust community policing in the state, added that investigation was still ongoing to unmask the sponsors and collaborators of the baby-making syndicate.
Among those arrested were three pregnant teenagers, 16-year-old Precious Steven, as well as Miracle Eze and Blessing Saviour both of who claimed to be 17 year old each.
Others were Jeremiah Gift, 25; Joy Okoro, 20; Stella Samuel, 19; Agnes Igbo, 22 and Vivian Princewill, 20.
Okoye, while narrating how the feat was achieved, explained that men of the Ajuwon Divisional Police Station stormed the scene following a tip-off.
His words: “When we moved in around 7am on Thursday, we couldn’t get anything. So, we left. But later we got information and we came back to the house and continued searching. We discovered that the pregnant girls were hidden in the wardrobe.
“One of the girls kept in the wardrobe fainted and she was taken to the hospital and revived. This is inhumanity to human beings. The coordinator (Angela) of this baby factory sold each baby at N300,000 or even above. She in turn gives pittance to these young girls. If the mother delivers a stillborn, she will not get anything.”
He disclosed that those arrested would be transferred to the State Police Command Headquarters at Eleweran, Abeokuta, for further investigation.
The proprietor of the factory, Angela, 29, who hails from Abia State, claimed that her husband, who is now at large, rented the building last year as a traditional healing home.