EOCO rescues three stolen babies as 11 suspects face jail
The Economic and Organised Crime Office has saved three babies from a baby-selling syndicate barely two months after busting a baby-harvesting ring in Accra.
This crime ring steals babies from their mothers in the hospitals after delivery and sells them between GHC28,000 and GHC30, 000.
Eleven suspects have been arrested in relation to the human trafficking crackdown jointly pursued by EOCO and the Medical and Dental Council.
Executive Director of EOCO, COP Frank Adu-Poku, told the media at a press briefing in Accra on Thursday, March 18, that three of the babies are being kept at safe foster homes and being provided medical care.
He said the dockets on the cases have been finalised and forwarded to the Office of the Attorney General for advice and prosecution.
EOCO currently has a total of six petitions under investigation, from victims who have made complaints about baby harvesting/ trafficking at various hospitals and facilities in the Greater Accra Region.
After making headway and clamping down on the age-old crime, authorities would expand investigations of such cases to cover reports from other regions.
Meanwhile, the Medical and Dental Council is considering a review of the protocols on documenting and dealing with mothers who lose their children at birth.
Lapses in the procedures give rise to false declarations even though the babies might be alive and some unscrupulous health accomplices go ahead to harvest the babies for sale.
Ten traffickers arrested in January
The joint team arrested 10 members of a baby-selling syndicate in Accra at the beginning of the year.
They comprised of medical doctors, nurses, social workers, and traditional birth attendants who work in the Greater Accra Region.
At the Tema General Hospital on December 31, 2020, a member of the syndicate was arrested when he attempted selling a one-month-old baby boy at the facility.
The suspect, Leonard Ableh, who is an Officer at the Department of Social Welfare, worked as the link for the transaction.
Before the syndicate was busted, Mr Ableh was contacted by an Official of EOCO who served as an undercover mother in dire need of a baby.
The suspect charged the undercover investigator GHC28,000 as the price of the baby boy.
On the day of his arrest, Leonard had gone for the baby from the Tema General Hospital with the ‘desperate mother’.
Leonard revealed he did not operate in isolation; instead, he worked with a well-structured syndicate at the hospital, and others dotted around health facilities.
His accomplices, a nurse, identified as Nancy, and the Head of Social Welfare at the Tema General Hospital, identified only as Doris, took to their heels when they saw the arrest of Leonard.
The others arrested included two medical doctors, two social workers, four nurses, two mothers, and a traditional birth attendant.
“We currently have in our possession two baby boys who were bought as a result of the operation. A doctor who works with the 37 Military Hospital, Dr. Hope Mensah Quarshie was a member of the syndicate who was arrested,” the EOCO Boss disclosed.
According to COP Adu-Poku, Dr. Mensah was “arrested at his private health facility, Susan Clinic located at Laterbiokorshi, a suburb of Accra. He allegedly sold the first baby boy for GHC 30, 000 in October 2020”.
“He was arrested with three nurses who worked at his facility, namely Sylvia Awuseh, John Adorey Effie, and Angela Ametepe. They have been identified as his accomplices together with one Dede Gifty Anikpi, a traditional birth attendant at Bethlehem Maternity Home at Santoe, a suburb of Kpone Katamanso, who referred the mother of the first baby boy to Susan Clinic.
“Madam Dede Gifty Anikpi was arrested by our team on January 15, 2021.”