Malang City Police (Polresta), East Java, revealed a case of infant trafficking through social media applications and arrested three suspected perpetrators.
Malang City Police Criminal Investigation Unit Head Kompol Danang Yudanto said the three perpetrators had the initials ES (19) and MF (19), residents of Sukoharjo, Central Java, as baby parents, and AL (21), residents of Surabaya, East Java, who acted as intermediaries. "The three perpetrators were arrested by the Malang Police Satreskrim through community participation," said Danangdilan ANTARA, Friday, September 15.
Danang explained that the disclosure of the three-day-old female baby trafficking case began when a resident of Malang City suspected the practice of buying and selling babies on a social media application in early September 2023. The resident then entered a group on social media and pretended to be someone who was interested in adopting a baby by paying some money.
"During the process of approaching the intermediary, the Malang City resident has coordinated with the police," he said.
The intermediary with the initials AL then sent a message to the public interested in adopting the baby. The perpetrator offered a number of babies at rates ranging from Rp. 8 million to Rp. 18 million per person to be adopted. The traded baby is the child of ES and the unmarried MF. The couple handed over a baby girl who had just been born and received Rp. 6.5 million from the suspect AL. "The intermediary took the baby from the parent and gave money. The intermediary was able to deliver the baby to Malang City. On September 5, 2023, this introduction to Malang City and met with the customer, then secured by officers," he said. Police confiscated a number of evidences in the form of baby clothes, maternal and child health books (KIA), several handheld phones with various brands, and Rp6.5 million in cash. Now the baby is in one of the hospitals in Malang City for treatment with assistance from the local Social Service. The follow-up plan to be carried out is coordination with the P3AP2KB Social Service and the public prosecutor regarding the case process. For their actions, the perpetrators were charged with Article 83 of the Republic of Indonesia Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection and Article 2 of Law Number 21 of 2007 concerning the Crime of Trafficking in Persons with a maximum prison sentence of 15 years.
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