The Police in Tanzania have launched a manhunt for the person who is believed to be pawning babies online.
An official statement from the Police Headquarters in Dodoma is also appealing to members of the public to assist the law enforcers in identifying, tracking and arresting the suspect.
“This person must be arrested and taken before the court of law to face charges,” reads the Tanzania Police statement.
An unidentified person, a male in his thirties, clad in a red T-shirt and brown trousers, has been trending on social media platforms with pictures and videos showing him carrying a baby and declaring that the cherub was on sale.
While he spoke live on video clips, recorded on Tik Tok and distributed on other platforms, the still pictures from the same, were also accompanied with captions claiming that the baby in his possession was being traded at the lump sum of One Million and Six-hundred thousand Tanzanian Shillings.
“I am selling this baby here at 1.6 million/-,” chortles the suspect in one of the video clips, displaying a small child tied onto his person with a traditional kanga cloth.
The value of that baby on sale should be equivalent to nearly USD 700. This is the first ever incident of this nature to be reported or experienced in Tanzania.
To make matters worse, the man peddles the baby by saying that ‘It still has both kidneys intact!’
“As you can see, the baby is still fresh and has not cut its teeth yet!” adds the baby actioner.
It is not known if the baby belongs to the man or he snatched it somewhere, but his social media posts currently going viral in the country are being received with mixed reactions.
Some people have been dismissing them as jokes, others expressing fury on how the innocent baby is receiving an inhuman parade before thousands of individuals who own smartphones, tablets or computers.
“This is falls under human trafficking,” says one of the lawyers who were speaking to The Tanzania Times in Dar-es-salaam.
Other residents warn that, if the culprit manages to actually sell the baby, he may start peddling other cherubs for gain and soon children will be disappearing.
On the other hand, cases of children disappearing have been common in recent days.
Only last week, a child who was being carried on a motorcycle taxi, was discovered dead in Dar-es-salaam, after being hit in the head.