The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) Imo State Command discovered a ‘baby factory’ in Owerri West Council Area and arrested 52-year-old Tochukwu Ogaranya and her accomplice.
The command also rescued five pregnant women, aged 25 to 33, who were found at the scene.
Mr Basil Igwebueze, the NSCDC Commandant in Imo, disclosed this in Owerri on Saturday, March 14, 2026, while briefing reporters, saying five newborn babies were rescued from the suspects.
Igwebueze said that the suspects, including an alleged accomplice, one Godwin Nnamdi, 47, were caught at an orphanage, where they were allegedly carrying out their illicit activities.
According to him, on March 14, one of his officers saw a pregnant teenager running away from the orphanage at the World Bank area of Owerri, the Imo capital.
“This prompted my officers to move into action at the orphanage, arrest the owner of the orphanage and rescue the pregnant women and newborn babies,” he said.
Igwebueze described child trafficking as a “heinous crime” and appealed to Imo residents to ‘say something, when they see something’
He also advised them to always take urgent steps to report suspicious persons and activities to security agencies for prompt action.
“If the residents of the state had not assisted us with the necessary information, the command would not have uncovered such a criminal act, he said.
The owner of the orphanage, Ogaranya, however, claimed that her orphanage was certified and not into child trafficking as alleged.
She recalled how one 33-year-old, identified simply as Chiamaka, came into the orphanage pregnant, having allegedly escaped from the man who impregnated her in Abia.
She also said that she reached out to the Police, who promised to travel with Chiamaka to Abia to arrest the man.
She said that she was surprised when her workers called to inform her that Chiamaka scaled the fence of the compound and was later caught by the local vigilantes.
Chiamaka, who hails from Ikeduru Local Government Area of the state, said that she was introduced by someone she could hardly identify to the orphanag.