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Malysian Baby-for-sale racket crippled
From The Sun Daily:
A baby-for-sale racket that is said to have sold dozens of newborn babies of single mothers over the past five years was crippled by police in an operation in Klang over the past two weeks.
The single mothers were Indonesians, Filipinos and Vietnamese, who were either legal or illegal workers here. There were also several Orang Asli mothers who were lured by the syndicate.
Police rescued three male and three female babies aged between two weeks and three years from the syndicate and the couples who had bought them.
In the operation by Selangor and federal police, 13 people comprising nine members of the syndicate and four others who had bought the babies for between RM15,000 and RM20,000 were arrested in the operation between Dec 3 and last Saturday.
The sole female suspect, in her 50s, was the first to be arrested. She is said to be responsible for luring the single mothers-to-be to sell their babies through her.
The female suspect would accept the women who had planned to abandon their babies upon delivery during their seventh month of pregnancy and cared for them in her double-storey terrace house in Banting.
Federal police CID director Commissioner Datuk Seri Mohd Bakri Zinin said the suspect had promised the pregnant women RM5,000 for their babies on top of paying for all their expenses including medical bills.
However, he said soon after the babies are delivered at a private hospital in Klang, the woman paid the mothers only RM2,000.
“She would tell them that the baby they had delivered is not attractive or beautiful and pay them less than what she had earlier promised,” he said.
Police said the other members of the syndicate arrested in the sting were agents who prepared the birth certificates and other documents which carried the names of the adoptive parents.
He said police are also probing if the staff of the private hospital and others from the relevant government agencies had a hand in the syndicate’s activities.
Mohd Bakri said police learnt that childless couples were the main clients of the syndicate.
Among the four men caught for buying the babies and who have been released on police bail was a medical lecturer and manager.
He said the case is being investigated under the Child Protection Act for the illegal adoption of a child and Anti-Human Trafficking Act for human trading.
(source: The Sun Daily)
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