A 43-year-old man has been arrested by policemen in Ogun State for allegedly stealing his neighbour’s baby placenta.

The suspect, identified as Joshua Abraham, allegedly went to the hospital, where the baby was born claiming to be the father and collected the placenta from the nurse.

However, his plan was shattered when the baby’s grandmother, Raliha Zakara, got to the hospital and requested for the placenta, she was told that Abraham had taken it away.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed this in a statement.

He explained on Thursday that the Joshua was arrested after a report was made by Raliha at the Ibafo Police Station.

The PPRO said, “The suspect, who is a neighbour to Raliha, came to the hospital, where Raliha’s daughter was delivered of the baby and pretended to be the father of the newborn.

“He demanded the placenta from the nurse on duty and it was given to him.

He continued, “On getting the placenta, he took it away on the pretext that he was going to bury it.

“But when the grandmother got to the hospital and was informed that the suspect had taken away the placenta, she quickly confronted him, but he told the grandmother that he had buried the placenta, ” he said.

“When the grandmother insisted that she should be taken to where he buried it, it was discovered that he had hidden the placenta but buried a dead rat.”

Oyeyemi said an investigation into the matter led to Abraham’s arrest and the discovery that he was on bail for allegedly defrauding a policeman and a pastor.

He stated, “Upon the report, the DPO, Ibafo Division, SP Abiodun Ayinde, detailed his detectives to the scene, where the suspect was arrested.

“It was discovered that the suspect had once been arrested for defrauding a police officer and a pastor of huge sums of money under the pretext of procuring Canadian visas for them and the case is being prosecuted in court,” he siad.

“He took detectives to where he hid the placenta and it was recovered.”

The PPRO also noted that the Commissioner of Police in the state, Kenneth Ebrimson, had authorized that a careful investigation be carried out and that the suspect should be charged as soon as possible.