crime
Women and babies rescued from ‘baby factory’ in Nigeria
“Baby factories” are illegal facilities where women are held until they give birth. The babies are then sold on the black market. Sometimes even to Europe. (Archive image) photo
© Moshood Raimi, Nigeria 2018/SOS Children’s Villages Worldwide/obs
Reports of children being sold at an illegal facility in Nigeria have led to the freeing of more than 20 pregnant women. Baby Fabrin often disguise themselves as charities for poor young women.
In Nigeria, more than 20 pregnant women and two babies have been rescued from a so-called baby factory – an illegal facility used to conceive and sell children.
The West African country’s military said the facility was raided on Sunday after reports of children being sold “to criminals for ritual purposes and child smuggling.”
21 of the 22 rescued women were pregnant. The owner of the facility in Ohafia in the state of Abia in the south-east of the country has so far fled, it was said.
So-called baby factories are repeatedly busted in Nigeria. They are often disguised as charitable shelters for poor young women. Those seeking help are then held against their will and raped. Victims are also often unintentionally pregnant young people who run away from home and are promised shelter. The infants are then later sold to gangs. Some children are believed to be smuggled abroad, others end up with buyers who kill them in sacrificial rituals.