Nigerian police say 32 pregnant teens could face charges after being accused of plotting to sell their babies in a child trafficking ring.

Police arrested the girls and a doctor in charge of a clinic in southeast Abia state on Saturday.

Police commissioner Bala Hassan says the pregnant women were housed at the clinic until their babies were born.

Police accuse the doctor of buying the babies from the girls and reselling them for several thousand dollars in profit to childless couples.

They say the girls were offered between $160 to $190, with the infant boys bringing in the highest amount.

The clinic director has denied the babies were sold. He has insisted the facility was a home for young women with unwanted pregnancies and that the babies were put up for adoption.

Authorities suspect some of the babies were being bought so their body parts could be used in rituals.