Several hundred people have been arrested in Nigeria on suspicion of organizing a gay party that included a wedding ceremony.

In Gombe, a predominantly Muslim state in northern Nigeria, the arrests occurred on Saturday night.

Buhari Saad, a spokesperson for the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, told AFP news agency that the group apprehended 76 suspected homosexuals at a birthday party organized by one of them.

Among the suspects were 59 men and 17 women, 21 of whom “willfully confessed to being homosexual”.

Earlier this year, a Nigerian law outlawed same-sex relationships and marriages.

As a result of the legislation, those convicted of such offenses face a prison sentence of up to 14 years.

Security forces arrested 67 people for attending a gay wedding in the southern Delta state in August, but a court released them.