A federal civil servant and three other persons have been arrested for selling and buying babies.
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) disclosed this in Abuja, Tuesday.
Head, Press and Public Relations Unit of the agency, Mrs Stella Nezan gave the names of the suspects as Mrs Wilson Erurom, a Federal civil servant, Mr Marksoo Uzer, a middle age man who is also an employee of First Fertility Hospital, Makurdi, Benue, Albert Motemi and Gabriel Gav respectively.
She stated that the suspects were all arrested in Makurdi through combined efforts of operatives of NAPTIP and the Department of State Services (DSS).
The NAPTIP spokesperson stated that during interrogation of the suspects, the prospective buyer said she contacted one of the suspects after listening to an advertorial on one of the broadcast stations in Yenagoa.
READ ALSO: Customs Seizes 38 Rice-Laden Trailers On Ogun Border
Nezan said that buyer narrated that her link had boasted in the advert of assisting people to get children either through in-planting, in -vitro fertilisation or outright adoption.
According to the NAPTIP spokesperson, the prospective buyers informed her link that she preferred outright adoption of an infant and subsequently paid the sum of N500, 000 for the purpose.
She said the woman narrated that after the safe delivery of the baby in question, she was called by her link to come to Makurdi to pick the baby, but only to be told later that the surrogate mother had changed her mind.
Nezan said that when the buyer was making her move to return to Bayelsa the following day, she was arrested by men of the DSS and handed over to NAPTIP.
According to the NAPTIP spokesperson, investigation revealed that Mr Marksoo Uzer was the mastermind of the illegal syndicate.
She said that Uzer had also promised an officer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) a baby after collecting the sum of N950, 000 and later reneged on the agreement.
Nezan said that after completion of investigation, the suspects would be arraigned before a court.
Reacting to the development, Director General of NAPTIP, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, appreciated the inter-agency collaboration existing between NAPTIP and the DSS.
-Advertisement-
She advised Nigerians to always ensure that due process was followed when confronted with issues of child adoption, promising that the case would be thoroughly investigated and charged to court.
We do everything possible to supply quality news and information to all our valuable readers day in, day out and we are committed to keep doing this.
Your kind donation will help our continuous research efforts.
-Advertisement-
-Want to get the news as it breaks?-
