The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has uncovered an alleged child trafficking operation involving newborn babies in Cross River State.
Jacob Oba, Head of Operations, NAPTIP Cross River Command, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Calabar on Monday.
Oba said the agency discovered the operation after intercepting some women allegedly involved in obtaining babies through fraudulent claims of pregnancy.
According to him, three women in Obubura allegedly claimed to be pregnant with “cryptic pregnancies”, which they said could not be detected, while allegedly arranging with midwives to obtain newborn babies.
He said another woman from Akwa Ibom allegedly stole a week-old baby girl and sold the child to one of the women who claimed to have a cryptic pregnancy for N3 million.
Oba added that the woman who allegedly bought the first baby and the other two suspects were making arrangements to obtain more babies when they were intercepted.
He said investigations revealed that the biological mother of the sold baby was in Akwa Ibom, indicating that the week-old child had allegedly been stolen.
The NAPTIP official added that the women were also suspected of operating baby factories, although the baby involved in the case was allegedly not obtained from the suspect’s facility.
Oba said the case was brought to the attention of security personnel after community members stopped a vehicle conveying the women and the baby.
“The main buyer claimed to be the baby’s mother but could not breastfeed the child when security personnel asked her to do so.
“The woman and the two others were taken for questioning, through which the alleged supplier of the child was subsequently arrested and confessed to selling the baby, leading to further investigation by NAPTIP.
Oba said the suspects were arrested on June 22 but that the agency had to conduct proper investigations before making the case public.
He added that the matter would be taken to court, with further proceedings expected to begin in October.