THE Anambra State Police Command has discovered a baby-making factory in a hotel at Nkpor, a suburb of the commercial city of Onitsha.
The Command said it rescued 35 girls, including four pregnant ones, who were camped in the hotel.
Spokesman of the police in Anambra, Tochukwu Ikenga, who disclosed this while parading the girls and the suspects at the Area Command, Onitsha, on Wednesday, gave the name of the hotel as Gally Gally Hotel.
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According to him, the girls, who were victims of human trafficking, were engaged in commercial sex and while the proceeds went to their ‘madam’.
The said madam is currently on the run alongside the owner of the hotel, according to the police spokesman.
Three suspects, including two men who guarded the premises, and the assistant manager of the hotel, were arrested during the raid.
Three pump action rifles, seven cartridges and the sum of N877,500 were also recovered by the police.
“We recovered three pump action guns, seven cartridges and the sum of Eight hundred and seventy-seven thousand, five hundred naira (N877,500).
“The suspects arrested are being interrogated to elicit information on their involvement and unmasking other gang members,” Ikenga said.
He added that the owner of the hotel and the madam fled when the police team led by the Onitsha Police Area Commander, John Obuagbaka, stormed the premises.
“The manager of the hotel and others are still at large, but we arrested six others that used to receive the girls on behalf of the owner of the hotel, including his assistant, one Mrs Uzo Ifeoma (35) and two security men, Chidiebere Alaka and Chidera Alaka, who ensured that the girls did not run away once they come into the hotel.
“Among the items recovered from them included three pump action guns, seven live cartridges and N877,500 and two registers where names and money collected from them were written.
“Following a rigorous analysis of crime trends and patterns, the Command’s operatives, working on information, busted the hotel, where they used children between the ages of 14 years to 17 years for sex slaves, prostitution and baby factory,” the police spokesman added.
According to him, the victims are to be handed over to NAPTIP for rehabilitation of the children.
Ikenga added that all the suspects will be charged to court at the end of investigations.
Earlier in March 2021, police in Anambra also uncovered a baby factory disguised as a bar in Nnewi.
They found four pregnant girls awaiting delivery during a raid on the building named Cool Joint Bar.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance