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By Our Reporter
A 23-year-old lady, Mary Olatayo, has been arrested by the operatives of the Ogun State Police Command for allegedly selling her three-week old baby for N600,000 to a buyer in Anambra State.
The command indicated that she was arrested on the 18th of August, 2022 at Mowe area of the state.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi said the suspect was arrested following a complaint from the father of the baby.
He said the father reported at Mowe divisional headquarters of the command that he met Mary sometimes ago and they started dating each other.
Oyeyemi added that the unnamed father stated further that, Mary got pregnant in the process and he rented an apartment for her where she lived till she gave birth to a baby boy.
The state police spokesperson said, “He complained further that the lady suddenly disappeared with the baby from the apartment three weeks after delivery only for her to be found in a hotel where she has gone for a hookup with another man.
“All efforts to know where the baby was proved futile.”
On the strength of the baby’s father complaint, Oyeyemi said the Divisional Police Officer, Mowe division, SP Folake Afeniforo, detailed detectives to the scene where the suspect was arrested and brought to the station.
During interrogation, he added that Mary confessed to the Police that she had sold the baby to someone in Anambra state at the rate of ₦600,000.
She confessed that it was her friend, Chioma Ogbonna who led her to the buyer in Anambra state and that they both shared the money equally.
Her confession led to the arrest of Chioma who also corroborated Mary’s claims.
Further investigation showed that, Mary, a native of Omu- aran in Kwara state is a call girl, who sees the baby as a disturbance to her business hence she decided to do away with the baby, and she an accomplice in Chioma.
Meanwhile, the State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the Anti-human Trafficking and Child Labour Unit of the State Criminal Investigation Department for further investigation.
The CP also directed that everything possible must be done to recover the baby.
