SE Asian Baby Traffickers Arrested

(Hanoi, Vietnam) The U.S. Embassy reported on widespread corruption in the Vietnamese adoption system, so Hanoi canceled a bilateral adoption agreement. Consistent with the reported corruption, Chinese and Vietnamese authorities have recently busted three baby trafficking operations.

The babies are sold to Chinese buyers, $500 each for baby girls and $1,000 for boys.

Chinese and Vietnamese police have arrested six baby traffickers in a border town and rescued two newborn baby boys, Vietnamese authorities said.

The four men and two women, all Vietnamese, were arrested in the Chinese border town of Dongxing and handed to Vietnamese police, who had tipped off their counterparts, said a police officer in the Vietnamese town of Mong Cai.

"We have a cooperation hotline with the local Chinese police. With their help, the smugglers were arrested on Monday," said the Quang Ninh province police officer who asked not to be named.

The suspected baby smugglers, who were aged between 15 and 66, were transferred to provincial police for further investigation. The two babies were turned over to a social welfare centre, the officer said.

"This is the third baby trafficking case we have detected this year, bringing the number of rescued babies to five," he said.

Heh. Based upon population statistics, one might think that China doesn't need more babies.