For the second time in a week, Nigerian authorities on Wednesday discovered a baby factory and rescued pregnant teens from the forced selling of their newborns.
This time, six girls were saved and three suspects arrested, Agence France-Presse reported.
“We acted on intelligence information and raided the house in [the city of] Enugu where we met six girls, under 17 and all pregnant, and freed them,” said police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu in the AFP report.
The girls were “lured into the house with a promise of some money” after they delivered their babies, Mr. Amaraizu said in the AFP report.
Two men and one woman suspected of operating a child-trafficking ring were taken into police custody. Authorities said they were cooperating with the investigation, AFP reported. It’s not yet clear where the girls came from or who exactly impregnated them; specifically, whether they were impregnated as part of a baby-factory ring.
“Investigation will unravel the details,” Mr. Amaraizu said in the AFP report. “We have to know how they came about the pregnancy and where they came from.”
Five days ago, police rescued 17 pregnant girls and 11 other young children from a home in nearby Umuaka that was believed to be operating as a baby factory.
The pregnant girls in that rescue were between the ages of 14 and 17. They told police they had been impregnated by the same 23-year-old man, who since has been arrested on charges related to human trafficking, various media reported.
Nigeria is known for human trafficking, which the United Nations lists as the third most common crime in the nation, after fraud and drug sales.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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