TheCable

Security operatives have rescued five pregnant girls from a “baby factory” in Umunya town, Oyi LGA of Anambra state.

Speaking about the incident on Wednesday, Afam Obidike, commissioner for health in Anambra, said the baby factory “Mother and Child Hospital” was being run illegally as a healthcare facility.

The commissioner said seven nurses working at the baby factory escaped through the back door as security operatives were approaching the facility.

“We found that some hospitals that are not registered are operating in the state. We have created data that will capture the hospitals in the state so that people will be able to have quality, good healthcare,” Obidike said.

“Unfortunately, in one of the hospitals that we came for inspection, we found out that in our data system, they were not registered. We came here to verify and look at what was happening.

“Unfortunately, the hospital is not registered and activities are suspected to be very fraudulent. So we decided to just see the senior doctor in the hospital and all the seven nurses.

“They locked us outside. Before they opened the gate, they followed behind and ran away. Seven to eight of them ran away. We saw little girls here that are pregnant, some of them ranging from 14, 15, 16 and 21 years.”

In 2022, 35 teenagers used as “sex slaves” at a hotel in the state were rescued by the police.

Tochukwu Ikenga, police spokesman at the time, said the teenagers, aged between 14 and 17 years, were made to engage in prostitution and forced to have babies.

Before this incident, four pregnant women were freed from a baby factory in the Nnewi area of the state.

The factory was discovered when police officers were on the tail of suspected kidnappers of a four-year-old child.