The Delta State Police have arrested a 38-year-old woman, Lauretta Akomen, and her friend, Tessi Ikechukwu, for allegedly stealing a newborn baby boy they bought for N2,000,000 from a traditional home where teenage girls are harboured in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The baby was rescued by the police after the two women were arrested on Independence Day at 6:30 PM in Ekpan, Delta State.
The traditional home is a hiding place where men go to have sex with the innocent girls until they become pregnant. The girls’ babies are then sold to people looking for children.
The command spokesperson, Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident to The Guardian in Asaba on Thursday. He said a tricycle rider (name withheld) came to the Ekpan police station and reported that while he was on his daily commercial operation, four women boarded his tricycle. When they reached the Efurrun roundabout, two of them alighted from the tricycle.
He said:”One of the two women who alighted handed over a newborn baby boy to the women left in his tricycle. The tricycle rider heard one of them saying, ‘The balance has been paid. While they get to their destination, they should inform her.’
But when the tricycle rider heard this, he smartly diverted the two women, Tessi Ikechukwu, and Lauretta Akomen, and the newborn baby to Ekpan Police Station and handed them over to the police.
READ ALSO: Operator of baby factory arrested in Abia
Bright Edafe said during the preliminary investigation, “One of the suspects, Lauretta Akomen, bought the baby for the sum of N2,000,000 from a traditional home located in Port Harcourt. This home harbors teenage girls and gets men to have sex with them until they become pregnant. They then sell the babies to people looking for children.”
He further said, “The suspect revealed that she was given a drug which she took for some time to make her look pregnant.”
The Police spokesperson disclosed that the suspects later led the DPO, CSP Aliyu Shaba, to the house of one Gloria (surname unknown) who acted as an agent between them and the traditional home.
He said the “Suspects are in police custody while a manhunt for the other accomplices is ongoing.”
