“The suspects told us that they had taken as many as 24 infants,” the police’s director of general crime investigation, Grand Commissioner Surawan, informed in Bandung, West Java, on Tuesday.
According to Surawan, the West Java police busted the human trafficking ring while investigating a child abduction case in Bandung city.
He said that the traffickers took most of the infants from their biological parents in West Java. They were taken to Bandung, then Jakarta and West Kalimantan, from where the traffickers planned to fly them to Singapore.
The regional police, he added, managed to rescue five infants in Pontianak city, West Kalimantan, and one other in Tangerang, Banten. The infants are currently under the care of the police.
“This syndicate had been operating since 2023. We will entrust the babies to Sartika Asih Hospital in Bandung for health checks,” Surawan disclosed.
He informed that the infants were to be sold for Rp11 million (around US$676) to Rp16 million (US$983) to buyers for adoption in Singapore.
“The suspects said that the infants would be taken to Singapore for adoption by local citizens,” he added.
He said that the 12 nabbed syndicate members played different roles, acting as recruiters, caregivers, document counterfeiters, and transporters.
“The transactions began even before the babies were born,” he added.
Surawan further said that the West Java police intend to coordinate with Interpol to track down other victims who may have been sent abroad.
“We are still working to locate possible trafficked infants in Singapore. Our plan is to cooperate with Interpol,” he added.
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Translator: Rubby J, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Azis Kurmala
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