Women arrested for selling baby

Multa Fidrus, The Jakarta Post, Tangerang

A mother and her daughter are now in police detention on baby- trafficking charges.

The Tangerang Police arrested Esther and her daughter, Lala, on Thursday following complaints filed by Diah, who lost her newly-born grandchild, and the infant's mother, Helida.

Helida, a resident of Jl. Gembor, Pasir Jaya subdistrict, Pasar Kemis district, believed that her baby was taken by Ester, 50, and her daughter Lala, who had earlier offered to pay the cost of Helida's medical and maternity expenses.

Helida said that two hours after she delivered her baby in the Puspita clinic, Grendeng subdistrict, on Feb. 11, Ester's daughter Lala came and asked her to sign a letter of consent.

"I was still only half-conscious when Lala abruptly asked me to sign the letter. I was not even given a chance to read it and I just signed it," she said, adding that Lala took her new-born baby from the clinic immediately.

Helida said that when her mother, Diah, came to visit her, she was shocked to find that the baby had gone.

After Helida told her mother that the baby had been taken by Ester's daughter, Diah met Ester to demand that the baby be returned. But Ester said Helida owed her Rp 1.7 million (US$1,700).

After negotiations with Ester, the grandmother then agreed to pay Rp 4 million to get the baby back.

When Diah came the following day, Ester said that the baby had been taken to Bandung, West Java, by someone called Ook.

Feeling that something was not right, Diah finally asked lawyer Sanggam M. Tambunan to file a complaint with the police.

On Thursday, the police arrested Ester and her daughter.

Lala told the police that her mother had given Helida Rp 270,000 for the medical treatment and gave her another Rp 1 million after the baby was born on condition that she gave up her baby.

Lawyer Sanggam alleged that Ester might have been working in cahoots with a midwife in the clinic because when Helida received Rp 1 million from Lala, the midwife asked why she had not ask for Rp 3 million because the baby would be sold for Rp 10 million.

Helida claimed that she had no idea that she had to give up her baby in return of the money.

The police are still investigating the baby-trafficking charges.