Syndicate for traffic on a police bust sending babies in Singapore

The Indonesian police have discovered an international syndicate for baby trafficking, which has supposedly sold at least 25 babies to buyers in Singapore since 2023.

Authorities have made 13 arrests related to the union in the Indonesian cities of Pontianak and Tanzheng this week, and saved six babies who would be traffic – all of whom are about a year old.

“Babies are first housed in Ponianak and have their immigration documents settled before being sent to Singapore,” said the West Police Director for a general criminal investigation, Suravan, before the BBC News Indonesia.

The BBC News contacted the police in Singapore and the Singapore Interior Ministry for comment, but did not receive an answer.

The suspected union’s modes were to focus on parents or expectant mothers who didn’t want to raise their child – in some cases initiating contact via Facebook before returning to more private channels like WhatsApp, according to police.

“Some babies were even preserved while still in the womb,” Suravan said. “After being born, the cost of delivery was covered, then money was given for compensation and the baby was taken.”

Police said the group members had included recruits who traced babies to be traffic; trustees and people who placed them; And others who prepared fraudulent civic documents such as family cards and passports, he explained.

After being taken by their mothers, the babies were given to viewers for two to three months before being sent to Jakarta and then Pontianak, where their birth certificates, passports and documents were prepared, police said.

Babies were sold for between 11 million Indonesian rupees ($ 673; 502 British pounds) and 16 million Indonesian rupees, they added.

According to some of the arrested, the union has sold at least 12 men and 13 women babies in the country and abroad – most of them came from different areas and cities in the Indonesian province of West Java.

On Thursday, Indonesian police said their “immediate task” was to find the adoptive parents in Singapore.

“We will check the data with the babies who have gone, so we know exactly who went, who accompanies them when they left, and who are the adoptive parents there,” Suravan told reporters.

The bigger part of the information collected by the police said that the babies had changed nationality, he added, noting that the authorities were still looking for their passports.

Surauan told the BBC Indonesia that babies were received through agreements between traffickers and parents and that no one has been taken by abduction so far. The parents who report their child as abducted did so because the broker failed to pay them, he said.

At least some parents may have agreed to sell their children because of financial difficulties. They can also be charged with a crime, Suravan said.

“If it is proven that there was an agreement between parents and perpetrators, they can be charged with crimes for child protection and crimes for human trafficking,” he explained.

Police in Indonesia asked for help from Interpol and Singapore police to arrest members of the union, who are still abroad, as well as buyers.

“We will list the perpetrators as requested persons,” Suravan explained. “In addition, we will issue a red notice or request the order to arrest them.”

Child trafficking unions are usually directed at women in desperate situations, according to the AI Rahmayanti, Commissioner of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI).

“For example, they became pregnant due to sexual abuse, abandonment by the spouse, or unwanted pregnancy from casual relationships,” she told BBC News Indonesia.

Abortion is illegal in Indonesia, with the exception of certain conditions, such as medical emergencies and pregnancies as a result of rape.

Ai Rahmayanti said the unions for trafficking in children or children often present themselves as maternal clinics, orphan or social shelters that seem to be caring for vulnerable women and children.

“These clinics or shelters use a language that initially sounds compassionate, such as” you can give birth and take your baby at home. ” But in fact, they offer money and illegally transferring arrests over the baby, “she explains.

Although there is no official data on the number of babies sold in Indonesia, KPAI’s own data on human trafficking crimes show that the trend is constant and growing.

While in 2020 KPAI recorded 11 cases of children as victims of illegal adoption, in 2023 he recorded 59 cases related to kidnapping and trafficking under the guise of illegal adoption in 2023.

One of the most recent cases that KPAI overlap happened in 2024, when babies were discovered in the process of selling places like Depok, West Java and Bali.

Babies, she said, are sold at different prices.

“In Java, (the price is) between 11 million RP1 million and RP15 million, while in Bali it can reach 20 million RP to 26 million RP,” she explained. “The price is also based on several indicators, one of which is the physical appearance of the baby.”