Following the collected information and evidence, the HCM City Criminal Police Department (PC02) set up a taskforce to investigate the case.
Initially, the police detained Nguyen Thi Anh Dao, 35, from the central province of Nghe An. Dao was caring for a newborn boy at a hotel in Tan Binh District. Dao admitted that she had pretended to be seeking to adopt a child due to her infertility through social networks. She contacted a woman in Dak Lak and adopted her child. Dao then intended to sell him to a couple in HCM City for VND40 million (USD1,600).
After further investigation, the police arrested several other women involved in the ring; Hoang Thi Nhung from Dong Nai, Do Thi Thuy Ngan from Hanoi and Cao Thi Thu Huong from Hai Duong.
Two among the people in the newborn baby trafficking ring
They used private groups on social media to contact women who had just given birth and were in difficult circumstances, offering to buy their babies aged between three-days and three months for VND10-23 million each. They then resold the children for between VND35-75 million each.
The women collaborated with forgers in Dong Nai Province to make fake birth certificates for the trafficked infants. The team was led by Phan Phuong Nam.
The police equipment, including computers, printers, stamping machines, photocopiers, ink cartridges and fake birth certificates, were found at the team’s office in Bien Hoa City.
To date, the ring has trafficked 84 infants in 32 cities and localities nationwide, including 16 so far this year.
The police timely rescued a 20-day-old boy kept by Vi Thi Anh from Son La Province.
A total of 16 people related to the ring have been arrested.
