Every few weeks there are new reports of “baby factories” pumping out babies for sale in Nigeria. These “baby factories” usually parade themselves as maternity clinics or orphanages but they house pregnant women and sell their babies. In some cases the pregnant women are actively involved in the sale of their babies, but some of them have also claimed they were held against their will.

Eight months ago, a Swedish magazine called Expressen infiltrated a baby-trafficking network in South-East Nigeria with a hidden camera.

Here is an excerpt from the report published by Expressen;

With a hidden camera, we have infiltrated several of the baby factories in southern Nigeria. To get access to the factories, we claimed to be interested in buying a child and that we wanted to meet the pregnant women in order to choose the mother of our baby, and also that we were from an organization called Home of Hope that wanted to have future business relations with the baby factories.

It takes us just three days to establish contact with several agents that are part of the baby trafficking networks. They claim to be able to get us babies by the following day. One of the agents mentions that an infant, due to be born in a couple of days, is meant to go to a couple in Spain but could be ours since we are on location.

“They won’t notice if they get another baby,” says Frank, the agent that we meet in the city of Umuahia.

“Do you want a girl or a boy? Twins perhaps?”

We say that we want to go to the factories, see the women, and then decide if we want to go through with the deal.

“Oh, that is hard. There has been a lot of trouble with the police and the women are hidden. But we give them food, shelter and sleep with them so they keep calm. I’m a father to many of the sold children, haha. But I’m going to try to solve this.”

The next day we meet up with another agent in the city of Aba. She knows of many baby factories and immediately gives us the addresses.

The first baby factory we visit is situated in a small village, an hour outside of Aba. It’s hot and we’re nervous. We are on our way to meet people who are willing to sell children for money, in other words hardened criminals. We are worried that they are going to discover the hidden camera or not believe our cover-story aboutHome of Hope. We have already decided it is worth the risk. The tall gate is locked when we arrive. We park the car close to the wall to ensure an escape route if we are caught. Finally a guard opens the gate. Almost all buildings are burnt to the ground and two Volvos have been scrapped in the yard. Over the car doors small children’s shirts are hung to dry. Behind one of the burnt down walls we can spot a couple of mattresses and a fire with a pot hanging over it. A couple of minutes later we see the first pregnant woman. After a short period of time we have counted five pregnant women pacing back and forth.

An older woman enters through the gate. She introduces herself as “Mama” and asks us to follow her to the office. We explain our business. She lights up when we start talking business and dollars.

4000 for a girl, 4400 for a boy

“I have five women here but 35 in another house in Umuahia. You can go there and see. But we have to talk to my son ’cause we run this together,” she says.

She tells us that she charges 4000 dollar for a girl and 4400 dollar for a boy.

“I give the girls food and shelter and help them with their physical exams. The same day they give birth they go away, she says.”

She claims to be able to get children of all ages and genders and at any time. She can also arrange court orders and deal with the police.

“I delivered three babies yesterday and they have already been picked up by Nigerians.”

At this point she looks at us and asks:

“Do you want the baby with or without the placenta?”

We quickly gather ourselves and ask if there is a price difference, but no, there isn’t. She states that we will have a “fresh” baby, not older than 24 hours.

She brings us back to the burnt down buildings, to meet the five pregnant women living there.

“As you can see it’s all burnt down. The cops came and burnt it all. They cause a lot of problems nowadays. That is why I hide the other 35 women at another place. It is safer.”

In the yard we get the chance to talk to two women, 28 and 21 years old, both in their last stages of pregnancy. They say they have become pregnant by mistake and that they cannotlive at home. They hide during their pregnancy and then return home as soon as they can. When we ask if they want to give their babies for adoption, they answer:

“You handle the business with Mama.”

How were they able to identify a baby factory agent?or they have a website through which they can be contacted?