Nigeria National Agency for the Prohibition of Traffic in Persons and Other Related Matters, NAPTIP, officials in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, are currently in the custody of a two weeks old baby reportedly rescued from a Cameroonian couple, Mr. Kamsol Ayang, 44, and wife, Theresa Asamoa, 46, in Calabar, Cross River States.

Officials of the Nigeria Immigration Services intercepted the couple with the two-week-old baby at the Nfum control post in Etung Local Government Area in Cross River State. Cross River State’s Comptroller of the Immigration Service, Mrs. Funke Adeuyi, made the disclosure while fielding questions from newsmen shortly after parading the suspects at the Immigration Office in Calabar. Adeuyi said: “The baby looked so weak and pale, as if he had not tasted breast milk. Neither the baby’s eyes nor body was moving, a situation that sparked suspicion.

The couple claimed to have been married for 15 years, and decided to leave Cameroon for Nigeria to take herbal drugs that would make her pregnant. “After searching their travel documents, we found out that their surnames did not tally although they claimed to have been married for 15 years. This gave room for suspicion. Our officers at the control post had to refer them to the state command for second line investigation and profiling.

“We equally realised that the baby in question was not active for the whole period of the interrogation and this made our second line investigation very powerful. After further investigation, she told us that she was given herbal drugs that would make her pregnant.” Adeuyi said the woman also claimed to have delivered and that the baby was given to her at the herbal medical clinic somewhere in South-West Nigeria.

On her part, the suspect, Mrs. Asamoa, said it was part of their culture in Cameroon for a nursing mother to drink traditional medicine for some time before feeding the new born baby with breast milk. Her words: “Someone in Cameroon introduced me to an herbal home here in Nigeria.

I went there and was given herbal medicine for pregnancy. After nine months, I was pregnant and I came back to Nigeria for delivery. This is my baby, “ Theresa Asamoa insisted. An official of NAPTIP opera-ting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, Mr. Victor Obazee, while receiving the baby, lauded NIS for a thorough job and the steady patrol team, which they maintain in the border areas of Cross River State.