The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons has sealed a residential apartment suspected of being converted into an illegal maternity facility by a child-trafficking syndicate.
This feat was achieved through an intelligence-led operation involving operatives of the agency and officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Health, leading to the arrest of the facility owner, the facilitator in the alleged baby sale saga and one other member of staff of the maternity.
According to a statement issued on Thursday via the agency’s X handle by the agency’s Head, Press and Public Relations Unit, Mr Vincent Adekoye, the arrest followed actionable intelligence on a criminal network allegedly involved in the procurement, sale and unlawful transfer of children.
The hospital, one of the “high-profile health centres in the oil-rich state,” is located in the Elelenwo area of Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital.
NAPTIP disclosed that an unnamed female Liberian national, but residing in Belgium, had Nigeria at a point in time, and within a month, “allegedly took custody of three children under circumstances that have raised serious concern.”
