Nairobi — At least four people have been arrested by Kenyan police in a bid to unravel the case of more than 20 babies, claimed to have been born to two women, well past their menopause, and in a record five years in the wake of allegations of the existence of a child trafficking syndicate in the country, linked to a UK-based Kenyan preacher, Archbishop Gilbert Deya.

It all started on Friday, August 13, 2004, after a BBC documentary on Archbishop Deya of the Gilbert Deya Ministries, in which women claimed to have given birth to babies without sexual contact. The BBC Radio 4 programme called for investigations into the activities, whereby the beneficiaries of the miracles have to travel from Britain to 'deliver' their babies in Kenyan slums.

Then a Kenyan couple, Mr Michael Odera and his 56 year old wife Eddah, appeared on Kenyan television with 13 children whom they claimed she gave birth to in five years, and without any sexual contact after prayers from the self-proclaimed prophet Gilbert Deya.

As Kenyans doubted the authenticity of the claims, four couples, some with photos as proof, went to Kenya's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) claiming parentage of four of the children (now already under care of the government) saying they had mysteriously disappeared from home a few years ago.

When police carried a surprise raid on the Kenyan home of Archbishop Deya, they discovered 9 more babies, and arrested Pastor Deya's wife and two women of Ugandan and Nigerian origin.

Archbishop Gilbert Deya, pronounces the women worshippers as pregnant "by Jesus". They then travel to Archbishop Deya's Kenyan homeland, where they apparently give birth to babies within days in backstreet clinics.

Although pregnancy tests and ultra sound scans have shown no presence of a baby, women who have used his services claim they have displayed all the visible signs of pregnancy.

A police raid in Mama Lucy Clinic in Huruma, Nairobi, where the Odera's claim to have given birth to their 13 babies, found only one recorded birth by the parents.

The Kenyan government then took all the babies and carried out DNA tests on them although the findings are yet to be released.

British authorities have already reportedly taken one of these so-called "miracle" babies into care after DNA tests found no link between the baby and its mother. Later, the baby's Kenyan birth certificate was found to be a forgery.

"The 'miracle babies', which are happening now in our ministry is beyond human imagination. It's not something that I cannot explain because they are of God and things of God cannot be explained by human beings," Archbishop Deya said.