The State Security Service (SSS) in Abia State paraded 16
ladies aged between 17 and 37 in a baby factory yesterday where they
were waiting to deliver and sell their children to prospective buyers.
Director
of SSS, Mathew Obodoechi described the house where the girls lived as
very unhygienic and the women were all at various stages of pregnancy.
The
house at No. 3 Anyamele Street, off Nicholas Avenue, in Umungasi area
of Aba, doubled as a charity foundation called Cross Foundation
International. Obodoechi said the women were kept there till they
delivered and then were paid N50, 000 before they were sent away. Their
babaies however, stayed back and were sold to people across the country.
Run by one Dr Hyacinth who was also arrested, the foundation was duly registered with Ministry of Women Affairs.
Hyacinth
said he did not see himself as somebody doing anything illegal.
According to reports, he said the first time he was arrested in 2004 by
the police, he went to court against the police and NAPTIP and was
awarded N4million damages, which he said the authorities were yet to pay
to him.
During a press briefing, it was said that
the victims were usually introduced to the centre by their close
relatives and friends, including a mother who did not want her husband
to know of the pregnancy of her daughter.
“It is
unfortunate that some persons hide under the cover of Non-Governmental
Organization (NGO) to perpetrate various forms of illegal activities,”
Obodoechi lsaid, urging members of the public to desist from encouraging
pregnant ladies to go to baby factories for whatever reason, whether
financial or otherwise.
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