Two female suspects have been arrested by the police in Delta State, South-south Nigeria, for allegedly buying a three-day-old baby for N2 million.
The baby, a boy, has been recovered, the police spokesperson in the state, Bright Edafe said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr Edafe, police superintendent, said the suspects, Tessi Ikechukwu and Lauretta Akomen, were arrested on Tuesday with the help of a tricycle rider.
According to the police, four women boarded the tricycle, but two alighted around the Effurun roundabout.
“One of the two women who alighted handed over a newborn baby boy to the women left in his tricycle, and he heard one of them saying the balance has been paid while saying that when they get to their destination, they should inform her.
“The tricycle rider smartly diverted the two women and the newborn baby to Ekpan Police Station,” the police said.
The police said one suspect, Akomen, 38, confessed to having bought the baby for N2 million from a traditional home in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The police said the traditional home harbours teenage girls, gets men to impregnate them, and afterwards sells the babies to people interested in buying them.
The suspect also told the police how she was given a drug, which she took for some time to make her look pregnant.
She led operatives to the house of someone who acted as an agent between her and the traditional home.
