A cleric and 16 pregnant women have been arrested by operatives of the Rivers State Police Command .
The suspects were arrested after operatives of the Command raided a suspected baby factory in Port Harcourt belonging to the cleric identified as Glory Raphael .
Apart from the 16 pregnant girls , three other persons helping the cleric to run the baby factory were also apprehended .
The State Commissioner of Police , Zaki Ahmed , told newsmen on Saturday that Raphael was engaged in child trafficking in the guise of operating a legal business .
Ahmed , who had earlier paraded 39 suspected armed robbers , kidnappers and cultists in Port Harcourt, said that the police were able to get hold of the hoodlums through the efforts of the Federal Special Anti- Robbery Squad , State Criminal Intelligence and Investigation Department .
“ Men of the Criminal intelligence and Investigation Department in a sting operation on Friday stormed the premises of one Gloria Raphael , who is the General Overseer of Mount Sinai Ministry at Rukpokwu. She is into the business of child trafficking .
“ Sixteen pregnant women awaiting delivery and onward sale of the children to the waiting buyers were arrested . One of them by name Chinyere Nweke had labour yesterday ( Friday) and was rushed to the police clinic where she gave birth to a baby girl , ” Ahmed said .
Southern City News observed that those arrested were below 18 years , but were pregnant.
When asked why she was arrested , Gloria Raphael stated , “There was a day my sister, Esther Joseph , called me to come and help her ; that somebody was sick .
So , they brought the girl . She brought two other girls to me and they were having discharge. I gave them to a midwife to deliver them. Some of the girls came for prayers ; they have husbands . ”
One of the young pregnant women , Sandra Solomon , explained that she was told that she could sell her baby to a church when she discovered that she was pregnant.
Miss Solomon stated that she followed an agent to the church because she had no person to help her through her condition .
I became pregnant and I did not know what to do . So , a lady told me that they sell babies in that church and I came there. The woman did not tell me how much they sell . I don ’ t want to sell my baby . As we were sleeping in the church , police came and arrested all of us , ” she added .
Also , a 17 – year- old pregnant girl , Favour Gabriel , disclosed that the man that impregnated her took her to the cleric and promised to take her back as soon as she was delivered of her baby .
Copyright PUNCH
