Nigerian police say they have taken 32 pregnant women from an illegal clinic accused of selling babies in southeastern Abia state.

Authorities say they raided the Cross Foundation in Abia last weekend and arrested the facility's director.

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

Authorities say the babies were then immediately sold for between $160 and $190, with baby boys fetching the higher amounts.

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.