The Rivers State Police Command on Tuesday said its operatives arrested a 17-year-old boy, Noble Uzuchi, and Chigozie Ogbonna, 29, for allegedly working for a baby factory.

Also arrested were two female suspects, Favour Bright, 30; and Peace Alikoi, 40, the alleged leader of the syndicate.

The four suspects reportedly operated in Obio/Akpor and Ikwerre local government areas of the state.

Also, the police said 10 pregnant girls were rescued.

The police spokesperson, Grace Iringe-Koko, in a statement in Port Harcourt on Tuesday, said the feat followed a tip-off which the command acted on.

The statement read, “On Saturday, January 7, 2023, around 4.45pm, while acting on credible intelligence available to the Rivers State Police Command, C4I Intelligence Unit operatives raided two houses at Igwuruta and Omagwa communities respectively, where victims of child trafficking were being kept.”

The police said Uzuchi and Ogbonna were hired by the syndicate to have marathon sex with the girls and impregnate them.

“The victims rescued in the operation are 10, most of them pregnant..”

Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, said investigations revealed that when a victim was delivered of her baby, the syndicate leader kept the child and paid her a sum of N500,000.

The police image maker disclosed that some of the babies previously delivered in the houses had been sold.

She said, “All the victims confessed that they were lured to the illicit sales of children because of the need to meet some financial challenges. A Honda Pilot Jeep, white, was recovered from the syndicate leader.

“The case has been transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department and efforts are being intensified to track and arrest the buyers of the children already sold out.”