A grandfather identified as Monday Chukwuka has been arrested by the Oyo State Police Command for allegedly selling his one-day-old grandchild for N700,000.
The Command, in a statement signed by the State Public Relations Officer, Adewale Osifeso, made available to The Punch on Saturday, said the suspect was arrested at his hideout in the Ibafo area of Ogun State following credible intelligence.
The Command explained that the suspect, who is the biological father of a young girl who gave birth to the child that was sold, had confessed to his crime.
The grandfather was said to have taken the baby from his daughter after she had delivered the child, under the pretense of handing the child over to someone who would look after her.
The command added that a bundle of new birth certificates and some equipment being used for baby deliveries were recovered from the factory, adding that the suspects, as of the time of arrest, were unable to give any satisfactory explanation about the parentage of the babies recovered from the factory.
Monday was also said to have sold the baby because he could not afford to take care of his teenage daughter and the baby, adding that the proceeds were used to rent a shop and buy goods.
A suspect, Favour Chukwuka, who bought the baby from Monday, claimed another suspected couple gave her the job to look for a baby because of their childlessness, pocketed N50,000 and handed over N650,000 to him (Monday).
The statement partly read, “Osifeso said: “On July 10, 2023, an actionable intelligence report was received by a team of Police operatives attached to the Command Monitoring, Oyo State, about the ‘harvesting of a day-old baby girl’ from her teenage mother, identified as Sarah Chukwuka, in Oyo town and the sale of the girl-child to a criminal cartel that operates a baby factory in Abia State.
“The suspect further explained in detail how he moved the day-old baby to Abia State, where he sold her to the owner of a baby factory located at Obehi, Okwa West, in Abia State for N700,000.
“Investigation was extended to Abia State, and in the process of a coordinated raid on the baby factory, a female suspect identified as Popoola Bunmi and four other accomplices, whose names are Chinwedu Peter, Chidinma Blessing, Chuckwu Christopher, and Favour Chukwu, were all apprehended in connection with the criminal activity.”