Police Investigate Alleged Human Trafficking Case of Mother Selling Children in Makassar
Makassar (ANTARA) - South Sulawesi Regional Police are still investigating allegations of human trafficking offences related to a mother who allegedly heartlessly sold her child with initials MT, following a report from her husband Anto at the South Sulawesi Police Criminal Investigation Unit in early March 2026.
“Yes, it’s true (there is a report). We cannot provide much information yet. Let us work to the maximum first. We do not want the suspected perpetrator to hide and flee,” said the Head of Sub-Directorate II of the Directorate of General Criminal Investigation for Child Protection and Human Trafficking at South Sulawesi Police, Commissioner Zaki Zungkar, when confirmed by reporters in Makassar on Thursday.
So far, the team is conducting in-depth investigations into the report to gain clarity in uncovering and dismantling the alleged human trafficking syndicate network in South Sulawesi.
The victim’s father, Anto, had previously reported the incident with report number: LP/B/248/III/2026/SPKT/POLDA SULAWESI SELATAN on 3 March 2026 at the South Sulawesi Police Headquarters.
The reporter Anto (40) reported his wife MT (34) for allegedly selling four children—three of his young children and a baby, along with one of his nephew—to the police.
He has five children: three biological and two stepchildren from his marriage to the suspected perpetrator MT. The whereabouts of two of his biological children and one baby are unknown.
The suspicion arose when he realised that the three children were no longer at home. It is strongly suspected that his wife and in-laws collaborated to traffic the children to others.
Before the incident, his wife MT had asked permission to go to her parents’ house, citing the need to avoid illness during the rainy season. However, after a week, she did not return home.
Feeling curious and suspicious, the reporter visited his in-laws’ house, but unfortunately, his wife, children, and in-laws were no longer there.
“I already urged her to come home, but she refused. I went to my in-laws’ house, but my wife and children were gone,” he told reporters.
From information he obtained from the local RT chairman, the child previously in his wife’s womb was allegedly pre-ordered by someone to be bought and had been paid a deposit of Rp1.8 million.
“I heard that from the RT sir; apparently, the one who paid the deposit (someone) came (after the child was born), but there was an argument because the baby was not handed over. In my opinion, she has already sold them; it’s been two months since I last saw my children,” he said.
In addition, the reporter suspects that the other two children suffered the same fate, including his sibling-in-law’s baby, which was allegedly taken by someone after birth for a payment of Rp8 million.
Nevertheless, this information has not yet been confirmed, although the suspected MT once told him that when his sibling-in-law gave birth, someone immediately took the baby.
He hopes that the police will promptly follow up on the report of the alleged human trafficking offence and arrest his wife and in-laws, who are suspected of collaborating in the heinous act of allegedly selling the children.