In the quiet town of Ifite-Awkuzu, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, a newborn girl, barely a week old, was rescued from what could have been the darkest start to a life just beginning. The baby’s mother, identified as Peace Elijah Moses, 25, now stands accused of selling her child for ₦1.7 million, accepting an initial ₦350,000 payment before police operatives intervened.
According to the Anambra Police command operatives attached to the Rapid Response Squad swooped down on Mama Maternity, a nondescript building turned alleged trafficking hub, in the early hours of Tuesday, October 28. Acting on credible intelligence, they arrested four women believed to be part of a baby-selling syndicate.
Those arrested include Elizabeth Okafor (62), Esther Nweke (48), and Ngozi Maanfa (45) — all women old enough to be grandmothers, yet now facing charges of conspiracy and child trafficking. Investigators allege that the trio conspired with Peace Moses to “purchase” her baby for ₦1.7 million, with a down payment already made when the law caught up with them.
Behind the cold statistics lies a troubling portrait of desperation and greed. Peace Moses, barely out of her own youth, represents a growing pattern of economic and emotional vulnerability driving young women into criminal networks that trade in life itself. In many communities, poverty, stigma, and lack of social safety nets continue to turn motherhood into a battlefield of survival.
The police confirmed that the one-week-old baby girl has been rescued and placed under protective custody, pending further investigation. The Commissioner of Police, Anambra State Command, has ordered the case transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Gender Unit, Awka, for deeper inquiry and prosecution.
For law enforcement, the rescue marks another victory in a widening crackdown on baby-trafficking syndicates operating across southeastern Nigeria. Yet, for the rescued infant, the story is far from over—it is a fragile beginning rewritten by chance, compassion, and the vigilance of a system that, this time, moved just in time.
