Self styled Preacher arrested in London

Self-Styled Preacher Arrested in London

Mafunganews –London
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 an international arrest warrant for Pastor Gilbert Deya, 54, in September 2005 for his alleged role in a suspected international child trafficking ring. Prosecutors in Kenya said the ring involved suspects there as well as in Britain, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.
Deya has claimed to help infertile couples conceive ``through the power of prayer and the Lord Jesus,'' but experts says 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 in 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 when 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, 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.