A Baby factory has
been uncovered in Ilu-Titun in Okitipupa council area of Ondo State by the
state command of the Nigeria Immigration Service, NIS.At least 24 suspects were
arrested in connection with the illegal establishment. Among those nabbed by
the anti-trafficking detectives of the command included five pregnant women,
five nursing mothers, five babies, two of which are less than a month old and eight men whose duty it was to impregnate
the women.
Also, some guards of northern extraction were picked. The
arrest of the proprietor of the baby factory, Mrs Happiness Ogundeji, was after
several months of intelligence gathering and discreet surveillance by officials
of the command. The suspects were paraded before newsmen at the command’s
headquarters in Akure, yesterday, by the state’s comptroller of NIS, Mr Musa
Al-Hassan.
According to reports, the proprietor, Mrs Ogundeji had to
relocate to Ondo State after she was
arrested in Imo State for a similar offence. Al-Hassan told newsmen that
following a tip-off, the suspects were rounded up at their hideout by a
combined team of his officers and military operatives.
According to him, the suspects had earlier resisted arrest
following which they reinforced to effect the arrest.Vanguard gathered that the
illegal operation was being carried out at a well-secured two-flat apartment in
the town. The proprietor was said to have pretended that the baby factory was a
natural healing home. It was gathered that
young girls between the ages of 19
and 25 were recruited into the home where some young men purposely work
to impregnate them.
Once a girl is pregnant, she is separated from those yet to
be impregnated. After delivery, the girls are offered ridiculous amount, their
babies taken from them and sold to rich men and women who pay millions of
naira, depending on the sex of the baby. Twins are said to be the costliest as
they go for N2.5 million.
It was learnt that the Abuja office of the command learnt of
the operation of the syndicate in Ondo
State following a tip-off from Cross River State Command and it subsequently
directed both the Ondo and Imo State commands to investigate the allegation.
Consequently, the
anti-human trafficking officials of the state command led by Obisesan
Abiola acting on intelligence reports burst the syndicate. It was further
discovered that the proprietor is assisted in the factory by a Cameroonian.
Al-Hassan said the command would always collaborate with sister agencies to rid
the state of criminality. One of the pregnant girls in her early twenties
simply called ‘Grace’ claimed to be a student of Lagos State University, LASU,
and is engaged to the son of the proprietor.
The supposed husband insisted that
his mother had not committed any crime while the proprietor denied
operating a baby factory.
Ogundeji said she was
operating a herbal natural clinic. Items discovered at the factory were eight luxury
cars, foodstuff, baby items, among others. Meanwhile, all the suspects are to
be transferred to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in
Persons, NAPTIP, headquarters in Lagos
after preliminary investigation by the officials of the command.
The house used for the illegal business had been sealed off
by security operatives.
Culled from Vanguard
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