A 23-year-old lady identified as Mary Olatayo, has reportedly sold her three-week-old baby for the sum of N600,000, the Ogun State police command said.

According to the State Police Relations Officer, SP Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the incident on Thursday, said that the suspect was arrested on 18 August, following the complaint from the father of the baby.

Oyeyemi said, “The father of the baby had told the police that he had a relationship with Mary, which led to pregnancy and he rented an apartment for her where she lived till she delivered a baby boy. He explained further that the lady suddenly disappeared with the baby from the apartment three weeks after delivery, only for her to be found in a hotel where she went to hook-up with another man.

“All efforts to know the baby’s whereabouts proved futile. On the strength of his complaint, the Divisional Police Officer, Mowe Division, SP Folake Afeniforo, detailed detectives to the scene where the suspect was arrested and brought to the station.

“On interrogation, Mary Olatayo, confessed to the police that she sold the baby to someone in Anambra State at the rate of six hundred thousand Naira, (N600,000). She confessed that it was her friend, Chioma Ogbonna, who led her to the buyer in Anambra State, and that they both shared the money equally.

Her confession, Wakadaily learnt, led to the arrest of Chioma, who Oyeyemi said also corroborated Mary’s claims.

“Further investigation revealed that Mary Olatayo, a native of Omu-Aran in Kwara State, is a call girl, who sees the baby as a disturbance to her business, hence she decided to do away with the baby. Fortunately for her, she has an accomplice in Chioma, a native of Imo State, who quickly contacted the buyer in state.”

The Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, said that everything legal must be done to recover the sold baby.

Meanwhile, Bankole, has ordered the transfer of the suspects to the anti-human trafficking and child labour unit of the State CIID for further investigation.