Operatives of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, Lagos State Command, have busted a baby factory in Okuju, Ilado, Badagry area of Lagos.
In the operation carried out on Wednesday night into the early hours of Thursday, the operatives rescued 18 pregnant women and 10 children, and arrested the operators of the facility, Joy Okeke and Raphael Agwu.
The victims were said to have subscribed to the facility via an offer on a Facebook platform.
The pregnant women, upon delivery, have their children sold and are paid between N500,000 and N1.8m.
The victims, between the ages of 18 and 30, were paraded at the NSCDC office, Badagry division, Ibereko, on Friday.
Some of the pregnant women had come to the centre with children and infants also up for sale to willing buyers.
At the parade, Commandant, Lagos State, NSCDC, Adedotun Keshinro, said its operatives swooped on the big flat containing many rooms that house the victims following actionable intelligence that lasted three weeks.
Keshinro said, “They are operating a baby factory where victims are made pregnant. When the babies are delivered, they are sold.
“The suspects entice the victims who are pregnant to come and negotiate with them that when they deliver the babies, the babies will be taken from them and they’ll be paid off.
“When they deliver the babies, the babies will be taken from them to be sold to their customers, and the victims will be paid off.”
One of the 18 victims rescued was said to have suffered a miscarriage.
“There are 18 victims who are fully pregnant, but one of them had a miscarriage. So, 17 of them are currently carrying pregnancies. And there are other babies there who are grown, and they are also here on negotiation to be sold to interested buyers,” Keshinro added.
Noting that the operators of the facility had committed a “grievous crime against humanity,” the NSCDC Commandant said they would be handed over to the police for prosecution, while the victims would be handed over to the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons.
On what becomes of the Badagry facility, Keshinro said, “We will hand over the place to the state government. The state government may decide to demolish the place so that they will not be able to continue to use it for that activity.”
On what becomes of the Badagry facility, Keshinro said, “We will hand over the place to the state government. The state government may decide to demolish the place so that they will not be able to continue to use it for that activity.”
Answering questions from journalists, Okeke, the chief operator of the facility, said she arrived at the Badagry location in January from Ikorodu, in search of a bigger apartment.
Okeke said she adopted children for those who do not have any.
She said, “We are adopting children to give to those who don’t have children. I have been doing this for some months. I moved here from Ikorodu in search of a bigger apartment. We were in Ikorodu before. We are two operating this place.”
She declined to state how much she sells a child or how they get to the facility, saying, “I can talk further when my lawyer is here. I don’t want to talk anymore.
“If you are interrogating me, my lawyer should be present.”