BEVERLY HILLS, AUGUST 26, (THEWILL) – A suspected baby factory located at Ogbor Hill, in the Aba area of Abia state has been uncovered by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad attached to the state Police Command. Five young women in different stages of pregnancy were rescued during the operation by the detectives, in the course of which 54-year-old Nkem Nwokocha was arrested.
The names and other details of the rescued pregnant women were given as: Chidinma Chukwu (29), of Isiala Mbano community, Imo State; Kelechi Sampson (20); Happiness Godwin, of Mboko Umuanunu village, Obingwa, Abia State; Okoronkwo Mercy, of Alayi, in the Bende LGA, Abia State; and Oluebube Onyabu, of Umuanunu village, in the Obingwa LGA, Abia State.
Nwokocha, who hails from Obegu village in the Ugwunagbo Local Government Area of the state, was said to run the baby factory with his wife, identified only as Nurse.
The Abia state Police Commissioner, Mr. Adeleye Oyebade, while parading the suspect at the police headquarters in Umuahia, the state capital, disclosed that his men, upon receipt of a tip-off, swoop on the area and discovered the hideout, where the pregnant women were housed.
The Commissioner of Police lamented the rate at which people indulged in illegal sale of babies in the state, adding that it was an act of wickedness against innocent children.
“Any crime that involves the sale of children is against humanity and God. Sometimes, it’s even hard to imagine that a child will be stolen and sometimes, their parents are involved. But we are not going to accept it. We are asking members of the public to give us useful information that will assist us in this direction,” he said.
The suspect, Nwokocha told newsmen that his wife was a midwife who had been running the maternity home for over six years, adding that although the home was not legally registered with the government, it was working in liaison with a yet-to-be-identified social welfare home.
According to him, “I’m aware of what my wife is doing. Most times when I returned from my place of work, I saw these girls and when I asked them what they were doing in my house; my wife told me that their parents registered them with her for treatment.
“When the girls put to bed, my wife takes the babies to the welfare home we are working with. I don’t make any money from this because I have my own business and I am comfortable.”
The victims admitted that they were not legally married, adding that they went to the maternity home without the consent of either their parents or those responsible for the pregnancies. They however denied any intention to sale their babies.
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