The police in Rivers State says it has rescued six pregnant women after bursting a specialized child trafficking syndicate and criminal gangs in Afam, Oyigbo Local Government Area of Rivers State.
The rescue operation was carried out by operatives of the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Unit in Port Harcourt led by a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), Bennett Igwe.
Parading the suspects before newsmen, Igwe said that the victims were lodged in a hotel in Afam which was used as an operational base for the suspected child traffickers.
He said that the syndicate was believed to be responsible for cases of child trafficking from Rivers State to parts of Africa, adding that during interrogation they confessed to selling dozens of children to buyers outside the country.
Igwe explained that investigations revealed that the syndicate has an international network and that they usually lure vulnerable pregnant young girls to an illegal maternity home being operated by quack auxiliary nurses.
He further explained that upon delivery the women are paid N150, 000 for a female child and N200, 000 for a male child.
Igwe said, “We just got information and we did not waste time. We decided to burst into them (the gang). They traffic children. There is a hotel they are using. You may think it is a hotel, but it is not. It is a place they keep these young girls.
“We have about six of them here that are pregnant. Afrique Hotel is the name. You can see as we are bringing them out from our (police) vehicle that they are pregnant. We picked (arrested) all of them.
“This is a wonderful case because they have international connections. With the confession you are hearing from this one now it means they have traded hundreds of children from Rivers State, “the head of the IGP monitoring unit said.
