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Five Bulgarians arrested for baby trafficking in Thessaloniki

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FOCUS News Agency

11 June 2013

Thessaloniki.

Police in Thessaloniki have arrested two men and three women, all Bulgarian nationals, following a sting operation in which the suspects attempted to sell a newborn baby boy to two undercover police officers posing as a married couple for 15,000 euros,

ekathimerini

reported.

The 13-day-old infant was born at Tzaneio Hospital in Piraeus. The gang took the baby and his 27-year-old mother to Thessaloniki to complete the sale from an apartment in the suburb in Ambelokipous, where the baby and mother were staying.

Two more women in an advanced state of pregnancy from Bulgaria were found staying in the same apartment and are believed to have been planning to sell their babies once they were born.

The suspected leaders of the gang are a man aged 52 and a woman aged 51. Police believe they recruited the pregnant women in Bulgaria and brought them into Greece illegally to give birth to their babies, which they would then sell to local couples. Investigators believe that the mothers would receive 3,000 euros from the 15,000 euros the gang charged for each sale.

The other three Bulgarians arrested are alleged to have abetted the two gang leaders, while police are investigating whether the scheme involved the participation of doctors, nursing staff and lawyers as they continue to explore how the buyers would come into contact with the gang.

A search of the apartment revealed a plethora of documents and medical tests pertaining to the baby boy.

The 13-day-old infant has been put under the protection of the prosecutor's office and is currently under observation at a Thessaloniki hospital.

2013 Jun 11