Bulgarians arrested for selling babies

Site last Updated: Jun 17 2009 11:21PM

Bulgarians arrested for selling babies

AFP Published:Jun 17, 2009

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SOFIA, — Three Bulgarians, including two lawyers, were arrested Wednesday and charged with involvement in a child trafficking gang, the state agency for national security (DANS) said.

The three participated in the trafficking and sale of 16 newborns, including 13 to couples in Greece and three to parents in Bulgaria, over a one-year period, the agency said in a statement.

The group recruited pregnant women and convinced them to sell their babies in return for between 3,000 and 5,000 leva (1,530 and 2,550 euros, 2,125 and 3,540 dollars).

They later sold the babies to families in Greece who paid between 30,000 and 40,000 euros per child, with baby boys costing more, it said. Bulgarian couples paid 10,000 euros per child.

The Greek couples, most of whom were listed by the justice ministry as having legally applied to adopt a Bulgarian child, were told that all legal procedures for the adoptions had been met, DANS said.

They allegedly used a scheme under which the adoptive father turned up in hospital and recognised the child as his own.

Bulgarian law does not require DNA or other tests to prove paternity in such cases.

But couples were asked to pay for the child, which constitutes a crime punishable with jail terms of up to 10 years, the statement said.

The annual US Department of State Trafficking in Persons report issued Tuesday noted that around 15% of identified trafficking victims in Bulgaria were children.