Dismantling a newborn trafficking ring
On the afternoon of August 12, the Investigation Police Agency (Ho Chi Minh City Police) announced that it had just dismantled a newborn trafficking ring with sophisticated methods and tricks taking place in the city.
Previously, through the work of grasping the situation on cyberspace, the Criminal Police Department (CSHS) discovered a subject using the nickname "Kimthao le" on social networks Facebook and Zalo, regularly posting content about giving and adopting newborn babies from unwanted pregnant women. The subject targeted infertile families who wanted to adopt children. The investigation agency suspected that this subject was involved in the buying and selling of newborn babies and children.
The subject often joins secret groups such as "Association for Adoption of Children Due to Circumstances", "Association for Infertility Seeking Surrogacy for Adoption, Egg & Kidney Donation for Organ Donation"... to find pregnant women who are close to giving birth but do not want to raise the child to entice them to adopt the child with the suggestion of compensation for health damage.
On the other hand, this subject also uses the above pages and groups to find infertile people who want to adopt children to sell the children they have just adopted under the form of adoption brokerage, in order to make a profit.
To conceal and avoid detection by the police, the subject rented a room in a deserted, secluded area to take care of pregnant women waiting to give birth, hand over the children or use it as a place to take care of purchased children before selling them to infertile families.
In addition, the subject also used the trick of reporting the loss of the identity documents of pregnant women when they were admitted to the hospital, and falsely declaring information so that the hospital would issue birth certificates with incorrect information in order to legalize the birth certificates for infertile families when buying children.
From the collected documents and evidence, the Investigation Police Agency has identified a group of subjects led by Le Hong Anh (born 1987, residing on Ton Dan Street, Ward 4, District 4) as the leader in the trafficking of children under 16 years old.
The Ho Chi Minh City Police Department has directed the establishment of a special project to combat and destroy this criminal ring. On July 25, the Criminal Police Department coordinated with District 1 Police to arrest Le Hong Anh while he was buying and selling a newborn baby with NTTT (born 2004) and LTH (born 1976), both residing in Ben Tre province, in front of 154 Tran Hung Dao, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1.
At the police station, NTTT confessed that he was LTH's biological son. On June 28, NTTT gave birth to a 2.9kg baby boy at a hospital in Ben Tre province and was issued a birth certificate by the hospital.
NTTT named the baby NHT but the family did not agree to let her register the birth. NTTT is living with her biological parents, financially dependent on the family and the family does not agree to let NTTT raise their child.
On July 1, NTTT completed the procedures to send her child to the non-public Social Protection Facility in Long An Hamlet, Long Hoa Commune, Binh Dai District, Ben Tre Province. Afterwards, NTTT used her Facebook account to comment that she wanted to give up her biological child on the Facebook group “Egg Donation, Surrogacy, and Infertile Families”.
On July 24, Le Hong Anh proactively texted NTTT to ask for the baby. NTTT asked for a compensation of 16.5 million VND.
At around 3:00 p.m. on July 25, when NTTT and his biological mother, LTH, handed over their child to Le Hong Anh to receive 16.5 million VND in front of 154 Tran Hung Dao, Nguyen Cu Trinh Ward, District 1, they were summoned by the police to clarify the incident.
With the collected documents, the Ho Chi Minh City Police Department has issued an Emergency Arrest Warrant for Le Hong Anh. As for NTTT and LTH, due to their difficult economic circumstances and inability to raise and care for NHT, there is currently not enough basis for handling the case, so the investigation will continue to clarify.
Currently, the Criminal Police Department in coordination with the People's Committee of District 1 has completed the procedures and transferred the child, a victim of human trafficking, to the City Social Protection Center for care and nurturing.
Ho Chi Minh City Police recommends that families with economic difficulties, unable to raise children, or infertile families who want to give or adopt children should contact state agencies or organizations and social protection centers with the function of giving or adopting children to receive advice, guidance, and legal support so as not to be lured or exploited by subjects involved in human trafficking under 16 years of age.
