Kyrgyz nurse sells baby boy to police for $600

Reuters

BISHKEK, Feb 6 (Reuters) - A nurse in a Kyrgyz maternity hospital sold a baby boy to undercover police officers for $600, police video footage obtained by Reuters showed on Tuesday.

The nurse was filmed toasting the sale, saying the baby -- swaddled in white and blue cloths -- was now happy because he had found a family.

Policeman Bakyt Karmankulov said the undercover officers were offered the choice of a girl or boy.

The nurse has been detained.

"We are interested in nipping in the bud such cases which are outrageous," said health ministry spokesman Kasymbek Mambetov.

A report on Russia's First television channel said that, according to one of the investigators, the nurse had told the baby's mother he had died. According to another investigator, the mother had abandoned her son after a difficult birth.

Police suspect this is one of many such deals in the impoverished Central Asian country. A U.N. report last October showed that up to 80 percent of Kyrgyz children under 15 live in extreme poverty, defined as a household with less than $2.15 per person per day.