A baby-selling gang operating in Heraklion was broken up after many months of police investigation, following reports by Heraklion University Hospital. The mastermind of the gang is a 47-year-old Bulgarian woman, who tried to sell her 25-year-old daughter’s newborn baby. According to information received, the same woman invited another young Bulgarian woman, 8 months pregnant, to come to Crete to have her baby and sell it to a Cretan family. The young woman was to receive €4,000, while the older woman was to take the rest.
Mother and daughter were arrested by police officers posing as potential buyers. They were told that a Rethymnon couple were willing to buy the baby for €13,000 – 3,000 to cover the hospital charges and 10,000 for the two women. The police officers raised the price to €20,000, resulting in a meeting for the ‘prospective mother’ to see the baby at Heraklion General Hospital, where the child remained after birth. At the meeting, the two police officers arrested the women. The Bulgarians, sensing that something was up, tried to deny the sale and run away but to no avail.