A medical doctor was among six people arrested by police in Maiduguri, north-east Nigeria, Saturday for selling new- born babies. The five accomplices were the doctor’s employees, Commissioner of Police in Maiduguri, Mohammed Abubakar, said.
He said the doctor – the proprietor of a maternity home – and his employees were arrested after a tip-off by a young woman who was delivered of a baby boy Friday night.
The police commissioner said the doctor sold the baby for 230 dollars Saturday to a woman who had earlier been denied adoption of babies at the Maiduguri orphanage.
Abubakar said the doctor got the babies he sold by habouring young women who approached him to abort unwanted pregnancies: “He would take care of the young women until they were ready to be delivered of their babies.”
“Soon after the delivery, the doctor declares the babies dead and pays a token to the mother, who incidentally did not want the baby in the first instance,” the police commissioner explained.
However, the doctor’s luck ran out Saturday when he delivered a baby from a woman who wanted to keep it.