Nigerian police have rescued six pregnant women after busting a suspected “baby factory” in Rivers state, local media report.

Police said they had arrested a 39-year-old woman, the alleged owner of the child trafficking home.

They said she had confessed to the crime and that she had been in the trafficking business for a long time.

“The prime suspect and her accomplice are currently in custody and further investigation is in top gear for the possible arrest of other suspects in connection with the crime,” the state commissioner of police, Polycarp Emeka, was quoted as saying on Wednesday.

Stories of the so-called "baby factories" are not uncommon in Nigeria – where women are abducted for the purpose of getting them pregnant and selling the babies.

In 2019, Nigerian police freed 19 pregnant women from properties in Lagos, described as "baby factories".

A year earlier more than 160 children rescued from two unregistered orphanages in the city.