Baby-for-sale sydicate busted on Indonesian island

Jan 16, 2006, 1:48 GMT

Singapore - A baby-for-sale syndicate allegedly supplying infants to families in Singapore has been busted by police on the Indonesian island of Batam, news reports said Monday.

Five Indonesian women were arrested and four babies, between one and two months old, were found, according to The Straits Times.

The syndicate, which has been operating for a year, reportedly supplied nine babies to families in the city-state after passing them through a series of agents in Indonesia and Singapore.

Sex workers are believed to have given birth to the babies, said Batam social worker Martje-Rogi.

'Some of these sex workers have debts,' she was quoted as saying. 'When unplanned pregnancies occur, the women repay what they owe with their babies.'

Acting on an informant's tip-off, police on Batam last week raided the house of a 44-year-old woman. She had a two-month-old baby boy with her.

The child was to have been sold for 1,200 Singapore dollars (718 U.S.) to another Indonesian woman, who would have brought the baby into Singapore a 45-minute ferry ride away, police said.

Three other babies were found at the second woman's house. Police also arrested three nurses who had been hired to care for them.

The babies, two girls and two boys, would have been sold for 6,000 Singapore dollars (3,592 U.S.) each to families.

District police chief Karimuddin Ritonga told the newspaper nine babies may have ended up in Singapore this way.

If the two woman on Batam are convicted as ringleaders of the baby-smuggling syndicate, each faces a 15-year jail term.

The four babies are currently being cared for by the wives of Batam police officers.