M
Musashi Miyamoto
Guest
Wednesday January 19, 2011
Baby-for-sale racket crippled
By STEVEN CHIEW and DHARMENDER SINGH
[email protected]
KUALA LUMPUR: Police believe they have crippled an international baby trafficking syndicate after rescuing three babies and arresting nine people.
Police rescued the babies – one aged five days and two who were seven days old – during an operation conducted by the Bukit Aman vice, gambling and secret societies unit. They expect to make more arrests soon.
On Jan 14, police detained three women, including a foreigner, and saved a week-old baby girl at a hypermarket car park in Ampang. The following day, they raided a private clinic in Pusat Bandar Utara Selayang and rescued a five-day-old baby boy. They arrested four women including two foreigners.
In another raid on a house in Subang Jaya several hours later, a week-old baby girl and two pregnant women were rescued. Police also found the mother of the five-day-old baby who was rescued in Selayang while a man and a female foreigner were arrested at the same house.
The suspects were aged between 20 and 50 years. Police also seized fake birth certificates, forgery equipment and RM3,000 in cash in Subang Jaya.
Federal CID director Commissioner Datuk Seri Bakri Zinin told a press conference at Bukit Aman yesterday that initial investigations revealed that the babies were sold for between RM15,000 and RM20,000 each, depending on their appearance and health.
Comm Bakri said police had monitored the syndicate’s movement since July when two raids in Sarawak and Kuala Lumpur saw the rescue of 22 babies and arrest of 30 people, including a doctor couple. He said the syndicate was selling the babies to a neighbouring country and police had alerted their counterparts for assistance.
He said police would refer to the National Registration Department to investigate the authenticity of the birth certificates issued for the babies and if any person had tampered with the documents. He said the rescued babies and pregnant women, who were currently under observation at Kuala Lumpur Hospital, would be sent to the Welfare Department once investigations were completed.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said the licence for the Selayang clinic had been temporarily suspended. He said the ministry was conducting its own investigation to ascertain if the owner of the clinic was directly involved with the syndicate before making a decision on whether to revoke the licence.
