Nigeria’s Rivers State Police Command has arrested a 17-year-old boy identified as Noble Uzuchi over the impregnation of 10 ladies.
The suspect was nabbed alongside his accomplice, Chigozie Ogbonna, a 29-year-old man.
According to the law enforcement authorities, the two suspects, and two other ladies, Favour Bright, 30; and Peace Alikoi, 40 were allegedly running a baby factory.
The Rivers Police Public Relations Officer, Grace Iringe-Koko said that the arrests were carried out following a tipoff.
In a statement, the police boss said that the four suspects operated in the Obio/Akpor and Ikwerre local government areas of the state before their arrest.
She added that the 10 pregnant ladies had been rescued by officers after the raid and arrest of the suspects.
“On Saturday, January 7, 2023, around 4.45 pm, while acting on credible intelligence available to the Rivers State Police Command, C4I Intelligence Unit operatives raided two houses at Igwuruta and Omagwa communities respectively, where victims of child trafficking were being kept.
“The victims rescued in the operation are 10, most of them pregnant,” Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police said in the statement.
She disclosed that investigations found that when a victim delivered her baby, the syndicate leader kept the child and paid her a sum of N500,000 and that some of the babies previously delivered in the houses had been sold.
“All the victims confessed that they were lured to the illicit sales of children because of the need to meet some financial challenges. A Honda Pilot Jeep, white, was recovered from the syndicate leader.”
The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation and possible prosecution of the suspects.
Meanwhile, efforts are underway to track and arrest the buyers of the children already sold to answer for their crimes.