Batu Police Arrest 6 Perpetrators Of Baby Sales, Purchased IDR 19 Million Through Facebook Group

Wakapolres Kota Batu Kompol Danang Yudanto/ANTARA

BATU CITY - Batu City Police, East Java, revealed a case of infant trafficking carried out through the Facebook social media application and arrested a total of six suspected perpetrators.

Deputy Head of Batu City Police Commissioner Danang Yudanto in Batu City, Friday, said six suspected perpetrators, namely DF (26) residents of Batu City, AS (32), MK (45), and AI (45) are residents of Sidoarjo Regency. Hospital (21) from Nganjuk Regency, and KK (32) from North Jakarta.

"We have uncovered a criminal act of trafficking in infants that is known to have occurred in Sogokerto Village, Batu City," said Danang as quoted by ANTARA, Friday, January 3.

Danang explained that the case of infant trafficking was revealed when the alleged perpetrator with the initials DF, who is a resident of Sogokerto Village, Batu District, was caught by his neighbor taking care of a seven-day-old baby boy.

Even though the local community knows that DF has not been blessed with children, even though he has been married for three years.

"The Batu Police PPA unit conducted an investigation after receiving a report to find out where the baby came from," he said.

The results of the investigation revealed that DF got the baby by buying from one of the Facebook groups called Baby And Bumil Adopter for IDR 19 million which was sold by the alleged US perpetrator.

"AS ini mendapatkan bayi berasal dari seseorang berinisial KK asal Jakarta Utara. AS juga membeli dari KK seharga Rp15 juta," ujarnya.

After being investigated, the police found the fact that the US and KK were part of a infant trafficking syndicate through the realm of social media Facebook together with other alleged perpetrators, namely the Constitutional Court, RS, and AI.

The perpetrators have been in action since October 2024 in different locations, namely in Batu, Lumajang, Karawang, Gresik, and Bali.

"This DF was arrested in Batu City. Then AS and MK were arrested in Sidoarjo, AI in Nganjuk, and KK in North Jakarta," he said.

The police also secured a number of evidences in the form of a car with police number W011 XT, three cell phones, one child identity card (KIA), one certificate born from Koja Hospital, North Jakarta, one baby blanket, and one jug used to put a baby placenta.

The police charged DF with Article 79 of Law Number 23 of 2002 concerning Child Protection in conjunction with Article 10 letter 2 (2) in conjunction with Article 13 in conjunction with Article 20 of Government Regulation Number 54 of 2007 concerning the Implementation of Child Appointment.

Meanwhile, other alleged perpetrators are subject to Article 83 in conjunction with Article 76F of Law Number 35 of 2014 concerning Child Protection.

"The sentence is three to 15 years in prison," he said.