Man arrested for stealing newborn baby’s placenta in Ogun state

A 43-year-old man has been arrested for stealing the placenta of a newly born baby boy in Ogun state.

The man identified as Joshua Abraham was arrested by men of the Ogun state police command following a report made by one Raliha Zakara, the grandmother of the baby whose placenta was stolen, at Ibafo Police Station.

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Confirming the incident, the spokesperson of Ogun state command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspect was arrested following a report made by one Raliha Zakara, the grandmother of the baby whose placenta was stolen, at Ibafo Police Station.

The suspect, who is a neighbour to Raliha, came to the hospital, where Raliha’s daughter was delivered of the baby, and pretended to be the father of the newborn. He demanded the placenta from the nurse on duty and it was given to him.

“On getting the placenta, he took it away on the pretext that he was going to bury it. But when the grandmother got to the hospital and was informed that the suspect had taken away the placenta, she quickly confronted him, but he told the grandmother that he had buried the placenta.

When the grandmother insisted that she should be taken to where he buried it, it was discovered that he had hidden the placenta but buried a dead rat.”

Upon the report at the police station, the DPO Ibafo division SP Abiodun Ayinde detailed his detectives to the scene where the suspect was arrested.

“It was discovered that the suspect had once been arrested for defrauding a police officer and a pastor of huge sums of money under the pretext of procuring Canadian visas for them and the case is being prosecuted in court. He took detectives to where he hid the placenta and it was recovered.” the statement read

The state Commissioner of police, CP Kenneth Ebrimson has directed that a thorough investigation should be carried out and that the suspect should be charged to court as soon as possible.