The Rivers State Police Command has uncovered a suspected baby factory in Aluu, Ikwerre Local Government Area of the state and rescued six pregnant young women.
The rescued women who are between the ages of 20 and 23 years, were being camped with the intentions to trade their babies after they were delivered of them.
The new State Commissioner of Police, CP Nwonyi Polycarp Emeka, who disclosed this during his maiden media briefing in Port Harcourt on Wednesday, May 31, said police arrested Akudo Azoroh, the operator of the child trafficking centre alongside her accomplice, during the raid.
The suspect, who admitted running the illegal business but explained that she gives out the babies to families who do not have children of their own, and not to ritualists.
Mrs. Azoroh claimed that the women were already pregnant when they came to her, adding that she pays off the girls as much as N800,000 to N900,00 depending on the stage of the pregnancy at the time they came and the gender of the child they delivered.
"I have given out six children in the past, I started the business three years ago. I do not have boys who get the girls pregnant, they were already pregnant when they came; they came to me on their own," she said.
"I give out the babies only to families who do not have children and not to ritualists; I give them out for between N1.4 and N1.5 million, depending on the sex of the baby, while I pay their mothers off depending on the stage of the pregnancy at the time they came."
Some of the pregnant women admitted to journalists that they went to the factory pregnant and that they intended to give out the children after birth because they do not have the means to support them after birth..
One of them, who was very remorseful, said her elder sister took her to the centre with the support of their mum. She disclosed that the father of the unborn baby was neither aware of her pregnancy nor that she was in a child trafficking home.
The Commissioner said the success was recorded through credible information by good Nigerians.
"Eagle-eyed operatives of the Rivers State Police Command, in furtherance of an investigation, on May 27, 2023, arrested one Akudio Ozoroh, 39 years, the alleged owner of the child trafficking centre," he stated.
"Six pregnant girls were rescued. And upon interrogation, Akudo Ozoroh confessed to the crime. The suspect claimed that she had been in the business a long time and had succeeded in selling many children, which she couldn't give a vivid account of,"
The prime suspect and her accomplice are currently in custody and further investigation is in top gear for the possible arrest of other suspects in connection with the crime."
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