Nigeria Raids ‘Baby Factory,’ Where Pregnant Teens Are Forced to Sell Babies to Foreigners

Authorities in Enugu State, Nigeria, discovered a “baby factory” and have arrested owner Ikechukwu Onoh during a raid. The “factory” consisted of nine pregnant women waiting to give birth to children who would later be sold to wealthy families.

“We had strong intelligence from about his activities,” explained police spokesman Ebere Amaraizu. “We had to put a tab on him for some time which eventually paid off.”

Amaraizu also said the Onoh operated the factory out of his own home. The nine girls ranged between 17 and 19.

“They are helping the operatives in their investigations,” stated the police.

Child harvesting is a lucrative business in impoverished nations. In Ethiopia, for example, adoption agencies urge parents to give up their children for money to wealthy foreigners looking to adopt an African child.

A quick Google search reveals Nigeria’s history with baby factories stem as far back as 2008, mostly in Enugu. Police raided a hospital in 2008 and rescued over 20 teenage girls. In 2011, police rescued 32 teenage girls from a house in Abia state. These women receive maybe $170 for their baby while Western couples pay the companies up to $3800.

Swedish journalist Therese Christiansson found a way into one baby factory with a hidden camera. Women are kidnapped and forced to procreate to sell the babies “either to adoptive parents, rituals, or slavery.” One man told Christiansson he is a father to many of the sold babies.

In 2006, The Daily Mail featured the truth about baby factories in Athens:

The Baby Factory is run with brutal efficiency. As soon as an order has been placed, a woman is chosen to produce a baby. Only the beautiful girls are selected to join the production line.

The customers will, the owners of the factory know all too well, pay a higher price for an angelic-looking baby. The blue-eyed ones are particularly prized.
The woman is impregnated by mafia racketeers and then looked after, housed, fed and clothed for the next nine months.

She does not give birth in hospital in case someone asks too many questions. Rather, she has the baby in a makeshift maternity suite – a room in a house rented by the factory for the purpose.

A trained midwife in the pay of the factory is on hand to ensure a safe delivery. There is, after all, a lot of money at stake. Up to £20,000, in fact.