Keena Wilson
26 January 2011
Baby Trafficking Bust
Blog # 2
In the world news this week a trafficking ring was busted in Greece and Bulgaria. Another trafficking crime has hit the news this week, a Romanian family was jailed in UK for a sex trafficking, but the difference between the two is that the one busted in Greece and Bulgaria was a baby trafficking ring. Tuesday Bulgarian and Greece police arrested twelve people for allegedly trafficking babies. Seven people were arrested in Greece, a doctor and lawyer were included, and five in Bulgaria. The investigation, nicknamed “Operation Babies” disclosed fourteen different cases of women that had agreed to sell their newborn babies. Many of the pregnant women that participated in this crime came from poor families. The women, who were from Bulgaria, were taken to Greece and there they were given a place to stay before and after the birth of their newborns. According to CNN.com the clients, who were mostly childless couples, paid up to 20,000 euros, which is about 27,400 dollars when converted into U.S. currency, for a boy and only around 15,000 euros, which is around 20,600 dollars, for a girl. The price of the newborns also depended on the color of its skin. You would assume that the mothers given birth to these children would be given at least half of the money for their pain and suffering, but unfortunately the mothers were reportedly given no more than 1,500 euros per child. When converted into U.S. currency, that is only about 2,000 dollars.
The police were able to bust the trafficking ring when they were tipped off by a distraught mother who was involved. The Bulgarian ministry said that the women had given birth to a baby girl in Greece. The mother reportedly said that she had refused to leave the newborn, but eventually the baby girl was taken away from her by force. In the end because of her tip she is expected to be reunited with her daughter soon. This story may have ended happily for this mother, but there are similar crimes like this happening in other countries. I don’t understand why people would sell their children for money, but this article showed me how big an issue poverty is and just how desperate people will get for money.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/01/25/greece.bulgaria.trafficking/index.html
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