NAPTIP seals off Aba baby factory, launches manhunt for owner

By OLAYEMI JOHN-MENSAH

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) has sealed off a baby factory in Aba, Abia State.

The agency also arrested three persons connected to the crime including a Nigerian-American while a manhunt has been launched for the owner of the place, Nwamaka Ijeoma Agozie, who is on the run.

The baby factory, Nwamaka Herbal Centre, located at Ikpokwu, Ukwa West Local Government Area of Abia State was sealed by operatives of the agency following the refusal of the owner to respond to invitations extended to her by NAPTIP.

A press release from NAPTIP disclosed that the investigation of the baby factory followed the arrest of a Nigerian-American citizen who was found with two children that she claimed to have delivered at the Herbal Centre but investigations proved otherwise.

The agency stated that the Nigerian-American had claimed to have given birth to them in March 2020 shortly after she returned from the United States of America.

“The suspect who also claimed to be a pastor in the United States also claimed she does not know the man responsible for the alleged pregnancy as she got into multiple sexual affairs in September 2018 in Amsterdam and started experiencing some strange symptoms one month later.

“She recounted that during that period she visited a hospital in Atlanta and the doctors said they could not identify any pregnancy in her.

“After several encounters with doctors outside Nigeria who could not confirm her pregnancy, she decided to come to Nigeria and seek the medical service of Mrs. Agozie.

“She narrated further that she came to Nigeria and went to see Mrs. Agozie who gave her some types of medicine and few hours later, she gave birth to a set of twins. She also claimed to have paid N2 million for the delivery.

“The deal, however, blew open when the Nigerian-American approached the American Embassy in Abuja to procure necessary document that will enable her to leave Nigeria with the children.

“The embassy doubted her claims and conducted a DNA test which proved negative. The DNA result revealed that she is not the biological mother of the children and that the babies were not even related,” the Director-General, NAPTIP, Imaan Sulaiman-Ibrahim, said in the release.

She added that the scenario become more suspicious when the owner of the Herbal Centre where the suspect claimed to have delivered the babies is now on the run. (Dailt Trust)