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Gilbert Deya could be extradited

The Standard, Kenya
June 19, 2006
Cyrus Ombati
www.eastandard.net

ReligionNewsBlog.com • Monday June 19, 2006

The controversial Kenyan evangelist, Gilbert Deya, and his son could be extradited, police have said.

But the extradition of the man at the centre of the “miracle babies” saga could take long, police spokesman Gideon Kibunjah said. Deya and his son are under arrest in the UK.

Police in Kenya issued a warrant of arrest for the televangelist after his wife, Mary, was arrested in Nairobi in 2004 and charged with child trafficking. Mary, 57, was again arrested last year after she went to hospital with a newborn, which she claimed to be hers. But doctors disproved her claim.

Deya, who is being held at Dungavel Immigration Centre in Lanarkshire awaiting extradition, denies that he runs a child trafficking ring on the pretext of praying for his followers to conceive. Reports say Scotland Yard arrested the preacher on Tuesday at the Edinburgh Sheriff Court, where he had gone to assist in a paternity case.

Police allege the Gilbert Deya Ministries is an international baby-snatching racket and last year asked the UK Government to extradite Deya. They say their investigations revolve around the disappearance of babies at Nairobi’s Pumwani Maternity Hospital. Other suspects, police say, are in Britain, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda.

In 2004, DNA tests on 20 of Deya’s “miracle babies” did not match them to the women claiming to be their mothers. The Government has since taken the babies to a children’s home.

The fifty-four-old Deya had kept a low profile for sometime until his arrest. He is said to own three homes, a jet and a helicopter, but claims he has not profited from his ministry.