…One Rescued, Midwife Linked
By Phillip Antoh
Arrests expose suspected network operating across Greater Accra and Central Region as investigators probe possible wider victim pool…
Ghana’s Central East Regional Police Intelligence Directorate, working with DOVVSU in Kasoa, has dismantled a seven-member child trafficking syndicate. The group is suspected of stealing and selling children across Greater Accra, Central Region and beyond.
Among those arrested is Lucinda Naomi Otchere, a midwife at Trust Mother and Child Hospital in Osu. Her alleged accomplices: Janet Larbie, Mary Dotse, Yvonne Twumasi, Sikena Umar, Grace Afriyie and Regina Agyeiwaa.
A five-year-old girl has been rescued in Kasoa. Police say she was stolen and sold through the network.
The case has triggered public alarm over whether vulnerable mothers and newborns were systematically targeted. A midwife’s presumed access to maternity wards would provide ideal cover birth records can be falsified, and distressed or impoverished mothers may be particularly susceptible.
The midwife and a retired colleague were among those earlier arraigned. Police have not disclosed how long the syndicate is believed to have operated, nor how many children may have been sold.
Investigators say they are working to establish the full scale of the operation and identify further victims and accomplices. No statement has yet been issued by the Ghana Health Service or the hospital’s management.
The arrests follow mounting public concern over child protection gaps. Trafficking networks exploiting healthcare insiders point to weak oversight in private maternity facilities a regulatory blind spot that police have so far declined to comment on.