Social media activist VeryDarkMan has announced the rescue of a baby allegedly stolen shortly after birth and sold in a suspected child trafficking case spanning Imo, Abuja and Lagos states.
The activist, whose real name is Martins Vincent Otse, disclosed the development on his Facebook page on Thursday, claiming operatives of the Special Tactical Squad (STS) of the Nigeria Police Force carried out the rescue after the baby’s mother approached his office for help on April 25, 2026.
According to him, the distraught mother alleged that after delivering her baby in Imo State, the child was taken away and sold without her consent.
VeryDarkMan said he immediately took the matter to the STS office in Guzape, Abuja, where the Commander of the squad, ACP Victor, reportedly ordered a swift investigation into the case.
He claimed a petition was subsequently forwarded to the Deputy Inspector-General in charge of the Force Intelligence Department (FID) for approval before operatives moved to Imo State on April 26 to arrest the prime suspect.
According to the activist, the suspect was brought to Abuja the following day for interrogation and allegedly confessed that a Lagos-based lawyer paid millions of naira for the child.
“She disclosed it was a lawyer that paid for the baby,” VeryDarkMan said in a video posted online, adding that investigators later traced and arrested the lawyer in Lagos before rescuing the baby.
Narrating details of the alleged transaction, the activist claimed the lawyer told investigators that her sister based in the United Kingdom was searching for a child to adopt and had allegedly rejected babies from a motherless home because of age preferences.
He further alleged that the suspect who stole the baby from the mother linked the lawyer to the infant shortly after birth.
In the video, VeryDarkMan criticised the alleged buyers, insisting that due process for adoption was not followed.
“You collected a newborn baby on the road and you said due process was followed?” he queried.
The activist also praised the Nigeria Police Force, the Inspector-General of Police and the STS Commander for what he described as a rapid and professional investigation.
He claimed the police spent significant resources on the operation without demanding money from the complainant or his foundation.
As of the time of filing this report, the Nigeria Police Force had not issued an official statement on the alleged rescue, arrests or identities of those involved.
NewsNet Nigeria could also not independently verify some of the claims made in the video, including the amount allegedly paid for the child and the status of legal proceedings against the suspects.
However, child trafficking and illegal baby-selling operations have remained a growing concern in Nigeria, with security agencies recording several recent crackdowns on suspected baby factories and trafficking syndicates across the country.
