Police bust Nigeria baby theft syndicate

Nigeria police bust baby stealing syndicate in Anambra State

Nigeria police bust baby stealing syndicate in Anambra State. File photo

from EMEKA OKONKWO in Abuja, Nigeria
ABUJA, (CAJ News) NIGERIAN police have arrested three women suspected to be members of a baby stealing syndicate.

The suspects were arrested with two male children aged two and four years old during an operation by law enforcers at a market in the southeastern Anambra State.

“They could neither give satisfactory explanation about the children nor where they got them,” Haruna Mohammed, Anambra police spokesperson, said.

He said the case was under investigation after which suspects would be charged in court for prosecution.

Mohammed urged parents whose children were missing, and whose identities fell within the above mentioned ages, to report at the police headquarters in the state capital, Awka, for proper identification.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country with more than 190 million people, is battling a surge in baby thefts.

There is also a prevalence of so-called baby factories where infants are traded.

The babies can be sold for adoption, used for child labour, trafficked to overseas destinations for prostitution and slavery or killed for ritual purposes.

– CAJ News

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