Crime
Police Arrests Nigerian Woman With ‘Faked Birth Story, Smuggled Baby’ Into UK
Police Arrests Nigerian Woman With ‘Faked Birth Story, Smuggled Baby’ Into UK
Police arrests Nigerian woman with ‘faked birth story, smuggled baby’ into UK. The UK police have nabbed a Nigerian woman at Gatwick Airport after she arrived in the country with a very young baby girl believed not to be her child.
The woman has been tagged Susan, while the child is identified as Eleanor. Both names are pseudonyms.
According to a BBC report published on Monday, Susan had been living in West Yorkshire with her husband and children since June 2023.
Before travelling to Nigeria in early June 2024, she had told her doctor in the UK that she was pregnant and wanted to give birth to her baby in her home country.
However, scans and blood tests showed that it was not the case. Instead, they revealed Susan had a tumour, which doctors feared could be cancerous. But she refused treatment.
Susan said her previous pregnancies had been invisible on scans, telling her employer, “My babies are always hidden”.
She also claimed she had been pregnant for up to 30 months with her other children.
When she arrived in Nigeria, she later contacted her local hospital in Britain to say she had given birth.
Sussex Police arrested Susan when she returned to the UK with Eleanor after doctors contacted child services out of concern.
After her arrest, Susan, her husband, and Eleanor were given DNA tests while the child was taken to foster carers.
DNA tests conducted after she arrived showed the baby had no genetic link with Susan or her husband.
Susan demanded a second test, which gave the same result, and then she changed her story.
She blamed the negative DNA test results on an “IVF treatment” with a donor egg and sperm before moving to Britain in 2023.
Susan provided a letter from a Nigerian hospital, signed by the medical director, saying she had given birth there, as well as a document from another clinic about the IVF treatment to back up her claims.
She also provided photos and videos, which she said showed her in the hospital’s labour suite.
In the photo, no face was visible, and one showed a naked woman with a placenta between her legs, with an umbilical cord still attached to it.
INVESTIGATION REVEALS LINK TO ‘BABY FACTORY’
The family court in Leeds sent Henrietta Coker, a social worker with nearly 30 years of experience, to Nigeria for investigations.
Coker visited the medical centre where Susan claimed she had IVF, but there was no record of Susan having a treatment there. Staff told the investigator that the letter was forged.
Coker then visited the place where Susan said she had given birth. She noted that it was a shabby, three-bedroom flat, with stained walls and dirty carpets.
Coker said she was met by three young teenage girls sitting in the reception room with nurses’ uniforms on. She asked to speak to the matron and was “ushered into the kitchen where a teenage girl was eating rice”.
Coker then tracked down the doctor who allegedly wrote the letter attesting that Susan had given birth there.
He confirmed that “someone had given birth”, but shook his head negatively when Coker asked him if Susan was the patient after showing him a picture.
“Impersonating people is common in this part of the world,” the doctor was quoted to have told Coker, suggesting that Susan might have “bought the baby”.
Coker was unable to establish who Eleanor’s real parents were or where she might have come from. The doctor told her he believed the baby would have been given up voluntarily.
The investigator gave evidence to the court in Leeds in March this year, along with Susan, her husband, her employer, and a senior obstetrician.
At an earlier hearing, the judge asked for Susan’s phone to be examined.
Investigators found messages that Susan had sent to someone saved in her contacts as “Mum oft [sic] Lagos Baby”.
About four weeks before the alleged date of birth, Susan wrote a text message which read: “Good afternoon ma, I have not seen the hospital items.”
The same day, Mum oft Lagos Baby responded: “Delivery drug is 3.4 m. Hospital bill 170k.”
The local authority pointed out that the messages were set to “automatic self-destruct mode” and said they represented evidence of a deal to purchase a baby.
Police Arrests Nigerian Woman With ‘Faked Birth Story
Susan tried to explain the messages in court, but the deputy judge of the high court said her attempts were “difficult to follow and impossible to accept”.
ELEANOR TAKEN AWAY
The deputy judge said Susan and her husband had put forward a “fundamental lie” to explain how Eleanor came to be in their care, and had tried to mislead authorities with false documents, causing the little girl “significant emotional and psychological harm”.
Susan and her husband said they wanted Eleanor returned to them, describing her as “a fundamental part of their family unit”.
But the judge ordered that Eleanor be placed for adoption, and made a “declaration of non-parentage”.
When Eleanor is adopted, she will have a new identity and British nationality.
In April, officers of the UK Border Force intercepted a Nigerian couple who attempted to bring in a baby that was not biologically theirs. The baby was identified as Lucy.
The Nigerian High Commission was accused of ignoring requests to comment on the reports of Lucy and Eleanor’s cases.
Nigerian Police Foil Bandit Attack in Sokoto, Recover Rocket Launchers
The Sokoto State Police Command has foiled an attempted bandit attack on Tsabre community in Isa Local Government Area, recovering two rocket launchers and other items abandoned by the fleeing attackers.
Eereporter.com
The incident occurred around 1am on Friday when the armed men reportedly invaded the village and opened sporadic gunfire, causing panic among residents.
The Police Public Relations Officer, Ahmad Rufa’i, disclosed this in a statement issued on Friday.
He said the Divisional Police Officer in Isa, upon receiving a distress call, immediately mobilised tactical teams, including operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit and Violent Crime Response Unit, to confront the attackers.
According to him, the police engaged the bandits in a gun battle, forcing them to retreat into a nearby forest.
“The tactical teams engaged the hoodlums in a fierce gun duel that lasted for some time. Due to the superior firepower and tactical positioning of the police operatives, the bandits were overpowered and forced to escape into the nearby forest with their casualties,” Rufa’i said.
He added that the police subsequently combed the surrounding bushes and recovered two rocket launchers and two empty AK-47 magazines.
Other items recovered included a Techno keypad phone without a battery, a touch light, an Army jungle hat, a sweater cap, five pairs of sandals and a rain jacket.
The Commissioner of Police, Hayatu Shaffa, commended the officers for their swift response and courage during the operation.
Shaffa reaffirmed the command’s commitment to protecting lives and property across the state.
Police
He also urged residents to remain vigilant and promptly report suspicious persons and activities to the police.
The CP further appealed to residents to report anyone with suspected gunshot wounds seeking medical attention to the nearest police station, as efforts continue to track the fleeing attackers.
Eereporter.com
Navy Rescues 2 Kidnapped Victims, Recovers Stolen Outboard Engines in Akwa Ibom
The Nigerian Navy has rescued 2 kidnapped victims and recovered several stolen outboard engines during an operation against sea robbery and kidnapping in the Ibeno general area of Akwa Ibom State on 30 September 2026.
Eereporter.com
The operation followed credible information on the activities of suspected sea robbers and kidnappers targeting fishermen and forcibly taking away fishing boats and outboard engines. In response, the Nigerian Navy Ship JUBILEE Maritime Quick Response Team, Ibeno, swiftly mobilised to the area to counter the threat.
During the operation, the naval team encountered 2 boats suspected to be operated by the criminals, prompting the occupants to flee into adjoining creeks. In the ensuing pursuit, the suspects abandoned one of the boats containing several stolen outboard engines and the 2 kidnapped victims, who were immediately rescued by the naval team and escorted to safety. The recovered outboard engines were secured for verification and further necessary action, while efforts are ongoing to locate and apprehend the fleeing suspects.
The successful operation underscores the Nigerian Navy’s sustained commitment to Search and Rescue (SAR), the protection of lives and the security of legitimate maritime activities across Nigeria’s waters. Through its network of ships, bases, surveillance systems, maritime quick response teams and other operational elements, the Nigerian Navy continues to maintain a presence across the maritime domain, enabling timely responses to distress situations and emerging security threats.
Navy
The operation also demonstrates the importance of credible intelligence and community support in enhancing maritime security. The Nigerian Navy therefore encourages coastal communities, fishermen and other maritime stakeholders to continue providing timely information that could assist in preventing criminal activities and responding rapidly to persons in distress.
The Nigerian Navy remains resolute in safeguarding Nigeria’s maritime domain and will continue to sustain proactive patrols, Search and Rescue operations, and intelligence-driven interventions aimed at protecting lives and property while denying criminal elements freedom of action in the nation’s waterways.
Eereporter.com
Cyber-Fraud: EFCC Secures Final Forfeiture of 431 Phones from Chinese Convicts
The Lagos Zonal Directorate 1 of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, secured the final forfeiture of 431 mobile phones to the Federal Government.
Eereporter.com
The mobile phones were linked to Chinese cyber-fraud operators who had previously been convicted by the court.
Justice Dehinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos issued the forfeiture order following a motion on notice filed by the EFCC through its counsel, Hannatu Kofarnaisa.
The court had earlier granted an interim forfeiture order on July 8, 2026, directing the EFCC to publish the order in a national newspaper to give interested persons or entities an opportunity to show cause why the phones should not be permanently forfeited.
While moving the application for final forfeiture, Kofarnaisa informed the court that the EFCC had complied with the directive by publishing the notice in The Guardian newspaper on August 11, 2026.
She added that no individual or entity came forward to contest the forfeiture within the period stipulated by the court.
The application was supported by an affidavit deposed to by an EFCC operative, Christopher Augustine, who detailed the findings of the Commission’s investigation.
According to the affidavit, the 431 mobile phones were linked to a cyber-fraud operation allegedly involving Chinese and Nigerian youths at a facility known as “HK” in Victoria Island, Lagos which was used to train and deploy Nigerian youths and foreign nationals to carry out romance, investment and cryptocurrency fraud.
While noting that victims in the United States, Canada, Mexico and parts of Europe were major targets, he revealed that a sting operation conducted on December 10, 2024, led to the arrest of more than 700 individuals, including about 500 Nigerians, 148 Chinese , 40 Filipinos and other foreign nationals.
The affidavit also stated that Genting International Company Limited (GICL), allegedly controlled by Huang Haoyu, also known as Ken, a Chinese and other foreign nationals, were involved in the operation.
According to the EFCC, Huang and GICL were subsequently charged with seven counts bordering on cyber terrorism, possession of fraudulent documents, failure to declare activities to the Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML), illegal foreign exchange transactions and money laundering.
The Commission stated that Huang and GICL pleaded guilty to the charges and were subsequently convicted and sentenced by the court.
He stated that the 431 devices were reasonably suspected to be proceeds of unlawful activities and were therefore subject to forfeiture pursuant to Section 17 of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Related Offences Act, 2006.
Fraud
After hearing the submissions of the EFCC and reviewing the affidavit evidence before the court, Justice Dipeolu held that the application had merit.
The judge consequently ordered the final forfeiture of the 431 mobile phones to the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Eereporter.com
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