Nigerian police busts another baby factory

Nigerian police said on Wednesday that they raided a
home, in the south eastern Nigerian city of Owerri
and freed 16 pregnant girls and young women
allegedly being forced to have babies to be sold.
"We carried out a raid on a residence in Owerri
following an intelligence report and rescued 16
expectant mothers," Imo State police spokeswoman
Joy Elomoko said.
"The girls were between 14 and 19 years old and in
different stages of pregnancy."
The male owner of the home, who was arrested, had
registered it as a non-governmental organisation
promoting women's and children's issues, Elomoko
added.
An unlicensed automatic pump action shotgun was
also recovered during the raid.
Elomoko said the rescued women and girls told
officers that they were each offered 100,000 naira
(632 dollars, 466 euros) to sell their babies after
delivery.
An investigation was also underway over a case of a
missing baby from the illegal home.
"We found out that the suspect could not explain the
whereabouts of a baby that was recently delivered in
the home," the spokeswoman said.
"We are suspecting that the baby might have been
sold for (black magic) rituals," she said, adding that
the suspect would be taken to court after police
investigation.
Nigerian security agents have uncovered a series of
alleged baby factories in recent years, notably in the
southeastern part of the country.
Last month, six pregnant teenage girls were freed in
a raid on an illegal clinic in the oil city of Port
Harcourt.
Human trafficking is widespread in west Africa,
where children are bought from their families to work
in plantations, mines and factories or as domestic
help.
Others are sold into prostitution, and less commonly
they are tortured or sacrificed in black magic rituals.