Four pregnant young women and four kids have been rescued at a baby factory in Ofada, Mowe area of the Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State, Punch Newspaper reports.
They were rescued by men of the state police command on Tuesday after the operation of the illegal motherless babies’ home was busted.
The operator of the factory, one Mrs Florence Ogbonna, reportedly fled, but her daughter and a physically challenged man were arrested.
Our correspondent gathered that the physically challenged man was allegedly responsible for impregnating the young women, who were said to be ready to sell their babies.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said Ogbonna had been selling babies delivered by young girls in the home.
Oyeyemi added that the fleeing operator of the baby factory was on bail after she was arrested and taken to court for a similar offence.
He said Ogbonna was standing trial for human trafficking, but decided to return to “normal duty.”
The PPRO added that the pregnant ladies, whose ages range between 18 and 24, were brought from Imo, Abia, Akwa Ibom and Ebonyi states on the pretext of finding jobs for them, but they were lured into the illicit sex trade.
Oyeyemi said the command had launched a manhunt for the woman with a view to bringing her to justice.
According to him, one of the victims, who resisted the plan to put her baby up for sale, escaped and reported the illicit activities at the home to the police.
The PPRO stated, “This is a case of a baby factory recently discovered at the Ofada area of Mowe; surprisingly, the operator of the home had earlier been paraded and charged but granted bail. Having been granted bail, she went back to her normal duty.”
“One of the victims escaped, because they wanted to sell her baby; she disagreed with them and went to the police to report. Personnel of the Ofada Police Station were deployed and on getting there, they succeeded in arresting some of the victims.”
“We met about 10 girls there; four of them were already pregnant and we have the daughter of the operator alongside a man, who we strongly suspected to be one of those the woman hires to impregnate the ladies, after which she would sell off the babies; they are all here and we have been interrogating them.”
“One of the ladies claimed that she is from Imo State and that the woman lured her to Ogun State on the pretext that she would provide a job for her, but on getting here, she discovered that the woman wanted to sell her baby and that was why she ran out of the place.”
Oyeyemi added, “We have other four pregnant ladies and four children were rescued from the home. We have launched a massive manhunt for the woman and we are expecting to get her arrested any moment from now.”
The victims were drawn from many parts of the south-eastern states. They gathered them across states of the South-East and brought them here for the purpose of human trafficking.
“The command has started investigation on the matter and she is going to be charged. She still has a case in court and she is enjoying the bail. This is a fresh case.”
Speaking with journalists, one the victims, Chindera Onuoha, said she reported to the police when the operator wanted to sell her baby.
When asked how much a baby costs, she stated, “If the baby is a boy, they sell it for N250,000. If it’s a girl, it is N200,000.”
