7 women, 3 babies rescued from Togolese midwife

March 3, 2018 6:28 PM

The illegal business was discovered the in Lekki area of the state and three children were rescued during the sting.

A baby factory has been uncovered by the Lagos State Government, and a Togolese woman arrested for running it.

ALSO READ: 'I sold my baby for N250K' - Teenage suspect

The Punch reports that a pregnant woman and seven others who were brought to the Ministry of Youth and Social Development on Friday evening, February 2, were arrested.

The suspects were reportedly arrested at Baboon Village, Ajele, Ajah.

The Commissioner for Youth and Social Development, Agboola Dabiri stated that it received a report of a woman who alleged to be harbouring pregnant ladies, keeping them until they delivered and selling the babies while pretending to be a traditional birth attendant.

“Adults (including the suspected perpetrator) were apprehended along with three babies, two of who were extremely sick,” he said.

The suspect, Mrs Regina Bankole, who disclosed that she is from Togo but married to a Nigeria, denied that she runs a baby factory, but admitted that she has been a traditional birth attendant for over 30 years.

She also denied selling babies, claiming that she is well known in the area as a traditional birth attendant who delivers pregnant women traditionally.

She also disclosed that she is registered with the Eti-Osa LG as a traditional birth attendant and is about taking a course in traditional birth attendance.

According to her, one of the three babies recovered from her place is her child and the other two belonged to someone under her custody.

The rise of baby factories in Nigeria

The Nigerian police has been doing its best to curb the baby factory menace that has been sweeping the country of late.

There have been reports upon reports of child trafficking rings being exposed for running baby factories in different areas of the country.

Recall that the Abia State Police Command arrested a man of God, Pastor Christopher Tochukwu for allegedly raping pregnant teenage girls and operating a baby factory from where he sells the babies.

Punch reports that Pastor Tochukwu operated a church and a medical center which was converted into a baby factory at number 252 Faulks Road, Aba.

ALSO READ: "Baby Factory: Female pastor arrested for allegedly selling 64 babies"

While parading the suspect at the Command headquarters in Umuahia, the state Commissioner of Police, CP Leye Oyebade, said that the pastor has been constantly and repeatedly raping the pregnant girls at his medical center.

Oyebade said that when one of the rescued girls was interrogated, she claimed that Pastor Tochukwu has been raping them and in one of his attempt to rape one of the girls, he was stabbed in the neck by the victim with a glass object she laid her hands on.

He added that one of the girls who gave her name as Imeobong Udoh, under interrogation, alleged that her two months old baby she delivered at the medical center run by the pastor, was forcefully taken away from her by the wife of the pastor and sold to an unknown person.