Page 5 - IAV Digital Magazine #604

Man Sold Baby On Facebook For £700 To Fund Gambling Habit
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
A man sold his baby online for £700 then used the cash to fund his gambling spree, police have said.
The 36-year-old dad, named only as RA, was arrest- ed after the infant’s mum arrived home in Indonesia to find the child missing.
Zain Dwi Nugroho, chief of police in the city of Tangerang, east of Jakarta, said: ‘She pressed RA to share the where- abouts of their child until he eventually con- fessed that he had sold the newborn.
‘RA saw
on Facebook that the buyers were looking to pur- chase a toddler so he sent them a
message and arranged the pur- chase.’
Nugroho said the man told his offi- cers he had money problems but gambled the cash away instead.
The baby was tracked to a rent- ed home in Tangerang where two adults were also arrested on suspicion of involvement in a human trafficking ring.
They face up to 15 years in jail and a 600 million rupiah (£30,000) fine under Indonesian law if convicted.
Ai Maryati, the head of the Indonesian Child Protection Commission, told
detikNews: ‘There is no excuse to be treating children this way and viola- tion of their rights has to be pun- ished severely.’
The disturbing case comes just weeks after police smashed an unre- lated baby smug- gling ring in the city of Depok.
Arya Perdan, chief of police there, said the infants were put up for sale on Facebook, with prices rang- ing 10 million to 15 million Indonesian rupiah (£490 to £740).
The traffickers then took them to Bali, where they were sold on again for as much as 45 million rupi- ah (£2,195), according to CNN Indonesia.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine