The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has shut down a suspected illegal maternity facility in the Elelenwo area of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, and arrested three people over an alleged ₦13.5 million baby sale involving a Liberian national resident in Belgium.
NAPTIP said the arrested suspects included the facility’s owner, an alleged facilitator of the baby sale and a staff member. According to a statement by the agency’s Head of Press and Public Relations, Vincent Adekoye, the facility was operating out of a residential apartment in Elelenwo.
The raid was conducted jointly by NAPTIP operatives from Abuja and Rivers State alongside officials of the Rivers State Ministry of Health, following intelligence about a child-trafficking syndicate allegedly involved in the procurement, sale and unlawful transfer of children.
Preliminary findings indicated that the Liberian national entered Nigeria with no evidence of pregnancy but took custody of three children within roughly a month. NAPTIP said intelligence suggested about ₦13.5 million changed hands over the transfer of the children.
Investigators are now working to establish the children’s identities, whereabouts and welfare, and to determine their biological and legal parentage. The probe will also trace the financial transactions involved and the roles played by medical personnel and others who may have facilitated the scheme.
NAPTIP said the facility was sealed to preserve evidence, and described the operation as part of its nationwide crackdown on fraudulent maternity and healthcare facilities operating as “baby factories.”
