Wednesday December 23, 2009

Five more babies rescued from 'infant factory'

By STEVEN CHIEW and M. KUMAR

PETALING JAYA: Five more children have been rescued from the “Klang baby factory”, bringing the total number to 10.

Selangor police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar said the four babies and a toddler were aged between three months and three years.

“Some of them were rescued after those who bought the children surrendered them to the police while the others were found by police,” he told reporters after the launch of the Puchong Perdana police beat base here yesterday.

However, he declined to reveal exactly how many were surrendered and how many were found.

Police had earlier rescued five babies — two girls and three boys aged betwen two weeks and nine months — during Ops Kasih which began early this month.

“Police investigatons also found that the children had documents which had the names of the couples who bought them. The couples were named as their biological parents,” he said.

On Dec 14, police announced that they had busted the syndicate behind the “baby factory”, with 15 people arrested and five babies rescued.

The syndicate “hired” women and made them sleep with men. Nine months later, they would “harvest” the babies born and sell them to childless couples.

The “hired” women were from Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam and the babies were sold for between RM15,000 and RM20,000 or more, depending on the looks and health of the infant.

Yesterday, DCP Khalid said seven people — two Malaysian women, and four Indonesian women and an Indonesian man — were also arrested.

He said two Indonesian women and the man were arrested on Dec 15, followed by another two Indonesian women on Dec 18. The two Malaysian women were picked up on Sunday.

“All are aged between 22 and 36 years and were arrested in the Klang Valley in Kajang, Klang dan Banting,” DCP Khalid said.

He said the two local women were agents in the syndicate while the four Indonesian women were paid to bear the babies for sale.

With the arrests, the number of people nabbed has gone up to 22.

The 50-year-old “chief operating officer” of the “factory” and her two daughters from Banting were charged in the Klang Sessions Court with selling babies on Dec 16.

DCP Khalid said the 10 babies have been sent to welfare homes.

“Police investigations into the case are still going on,” he said.

He also appealed to the public provide more information to assist police in the investigations.

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