A Nigerian woman residing in West Yorkshire, UK, was arrested at Gatwick Airport after returning from Nigeria with a newborn baby girl under suspicious circumstances, raising fresh concerns over possible child trafficking and the illegal importation of infants from so-called “baby factories” in Nigeria.
The woman, referred to as “Susan” for legal reasons, had been living in the UK with her husband and children since June 2023 and was working as a care worker with valid immigration status. Prior to her travel, Susan told her GP that she was pregnant, but multiple medical scans and blood tests found no evidence of pregnancy and instead revealed a suspected tumour. Despite the medical findings, she refused treatment and insisted that her pregnancies never showed up on scans, bizarrely claiming that her “babies are always hidden.”
In early June 2024, Susan left the UK for Nigeria, informing her UK hospital that she wished to give birth there. A few weeks later, she returned with a baby girl, later named “Eleanor” and was immediately arrested on suspicion of trafficking. She was released on bail, and the police have since confirmed there is no ongoing criminal investigation.
Authorities conducted DNA tests on Susan, her husband, and baby Eleanor. The results showed no genetic link between the baby and either adult. Despite initially demanding that the child be returned to her, Susan later changed her story, claiming the baby was born via IVF using a donor egg and sperm at a Nigerian clinic prior to her move to the UK. She submitted documents from a hospital in Nigeria and a supposed fertility clinic, as well as graphic images and videos allegedly taken during childbirth. However, the evidence remains inconclusive, with photos showing a woman in labor without a visible face, including one disturbing image of a woman with a placenta and an attached umbilical cord.
Eleanor was immediately placed in foster care by Child Protection Services following the inconsistencies in Susan’s account. This troubling case is the second such instance recently observed by the BBC through the UK’s Family Court, pointing to a growing and disturbing trend of infants possibly being trafficked from Nigeria into Britain under the guise of surrogacy or illegal adoption.
Child protection experts are raising alarms about the increasing risk of unlawful child importation linked to baby factories’ underground operations in Nigeria, where women are forced or coerced into bearing children, which are later sold or smuggled abroad. The UK Home Office and social services continue to monitor such developments closely, as the lines between surrogacy, trafficking, and human rights abuse grow increasingly blurred in transnational child custody cases.
The court is now tasked with determining Eleanor’s future, while broader concerns about child trafficking networks and cross-border IVF fraud demand urgent international attention and cooperation.
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