Indonesia Cracks Down on Baby Trafficking Ring, Arrests 12 with Alleged Singapore Ties
Indonesian authorities have detained 12 suspects after uncovering an alleged baby trafficking ring that sent more than a dozen infants to Singapore, a police official told AFP on Tuesday, July 15.
Surawan, director of general criminal investigation for West Java police, who goes by one name, stated that the case was uncovered after a parent reported an alleged kidnapping of a baby to the police, which led them to a suspect who acknowledged trading 24 infants.
The official said that the offenders are accused of transporting the infants to Pontianak city on Borneo Island and then sending over a dozen of them to Singapore.
“Based on documents, 14 (babies) were sent to Singapore,” he told AFP, adding, “The age range is clearly under one year old, with some three months old, five months old and six months old.”
Five infants were saved by the authorities in Pontianak, and one was saved in Tangerang, a city close to Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. Additionally, they detained a dozen suspects in Bandung, Java, Pontianak, and Jakarta.
“They are a syndicate, a baby trafficking syndicate. They each have their own roles,” Surawan said.
While some of the suspects were allegedly assigned to locate the infants, others were allegedly responsible for providing them with care, shelter, or civil registration paperwork, including passports and family cards.
According to Surawan, suspect statements indicated that the syndicate had been active since 2023.
The police said that they looked for “parents or mothers who refuse to care for their children” in exchange for cash.
The parent who reported a kidnapping “actually had an agreement” with the smugglers prior to the child’s birth, according to Surawan, but reported them after they were not paid.
The largest economy in South-east Asia, a vast country made up of more than 17,000 islands, also faces a domestic human trafficking issue.
At least 57 people were discovered in cages in a North Sumatra palm oil plantation in 2022, one of the worst incidents in recent memory.
