A self-styled preacher who claimed to help couples conceive "miracle babies" through prayer was arrested Wednesday on a warrant to face kidnapping charges in his native Kenya.
A Nairobi magistrate issued the international arrest warrant for Gilbert Deya, 54, in September 2005 for his alleged role in a suspected child trafficking ring. Prosecutors in Kenya said the ring involved suspects there as well as in Britain, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.
Deya was released on bond after a court appearance Wednesday and faces another hearing next month.
Deya has claimed to help infertile couples conceive "through the power of prayer and the Lord Jesus" but DNA tests have showed that 20 of his "miracle babies" had no genetic connection to their supposed mothers.
Nairobi police have said the preacher blessed infertile or post-menopausal women and sent them to Kenya, purportedly to give birth. The women claimed to have delivered babies after as little as two months and then applied to British authorities to take them back to London.
Kenyan officials said in 2004 they were investigating Nairobi's Pumwani Maternity Hospital following allegations some parents were told their newborns had died, after their babies disappeared from the hospital.
In November 2004, a judge in London ruled that one couple's "miracle baby" had been stolen. The Nigerian couple, who lived in Britain and were identified only as Mr. and Mrs. E, had sought Deya's help, and the woman soon believed she was pregnant although tests at London clinics were negative.
Mrs. E. testified that she then traveled to Kenya, where she gave birth to the child and two others at clinics in Nairobi between September 2003 and June 2004.
She described receiving injections for presumed labor pain from people she believed to be doctors. She did not see the moment of childbirth, but "in each case the child was held up for her to see, was wrapped up and then removed."
Gilbert Deya Ministries calls itself an international religious ministry. It operates several churches in Britain and says it has 34,000 followers.
"I am not a child traficker! I am a preacher followed by miracles, signs and wonders in Jesus' name," Deya's ministries' Web site said. The pastor has said Kenyan authorities are persecuting him because of his ties to the country's former ruler, Daniel arap Moi.
Deya's wife, Mary, and four others were charged in Nairobi in 2004 with allegedly stealing two babies _ infants which Gilbert Deya had claimed were miracle babies. A trial is under way.
Source: AP News
