Police Arrest 3 in Baby-Trafficking Case in Argentina

Publication date: 24 June 2009

BUENOS AIRES – Three people were arrested in the Argentine city of Rosario in the investigation of a band suspected of trafficking in babies and allegedly comprised of doctors, midwives and lawyers, the press reported Tuesday.

A court on Monday ordered a police raid on the provincial hospital in Rosario, which is located about 300 kilometers (186 miles) from Buenos Aires, because authorities suspect that two recently-born infants were sold, judicial officials said.

The investigation was begun after a complaint filed in April claimed that the sale of the baby of a 30-year-old woman who came to the city from the impoverished northern province of Santiago del Estero was arranged at the hospital.

Investigators believe that several instances of baby-selling were carried out recently by the band, which also included hospital employees, officials said.

In addition to raiding the medical facility, Santa Fe police arrested a couple accused of buying a baby boy and a 61-year-old man suspected of having brought the woman from Santiago del Estero to give birth to that child at the Rosario hospital in exchange for 1,500 pesos ($405).

Judge Juan Dannola ordered that the baby who was allegedly sold should remain – for the time being – in the care of the couple accused of buying him, the daily Critica reported.

Hospital director Pietro Belletich, however, said that the matter was not a case of baby-selling at all but rather an adoption in which “everything was done legally.” EFE

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Countries: Argentina