Indonesian court jails alleged baby-trafficking ring leader for seven years

An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced a 70-year-old woman to seven years in prison after finding her guilty of leading a baby-trafficking ring that sent infants to Singapore and sold children domestically, a judge said.

Verdict and sentence

The presiding judge, Gatot Ardian Agustriono, said Lie Siu Luan was convicted of committing crimes “for the purpose of exploitation“. Lie, aged 70, was sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment, a term lower than prosecutors
9 demand of 10 years.

Scope of the alleged ring

Lie was identified as the leader of a group of 19 people accused of trafficking babies in Indonesia and Singapore. According to the reporting of the case, Lie previously told the court that she had sent at least 12 babies to Singapore.

Specific charges and related sentences

The indictment said Lie had trafficked a baby to Singapore for adoption in 2022 and received about S$17,000 for the transaction. Another defendant in the case, Astri Fitrinika, was found guilty of a similar charge and received six years and seven months’ imprisonment, the judge added.

How the ring was uncovered

Authorities arrested the defendants last year after a parent reported a baby kidnapping to police in West Java province. Police rescued several infants held by the syndicate before they could be sold.

Domestic sales

The report said other children, rejected by would-be clients in Singapore, were sold within Indonesia, including to adoptive parents in Jakarta.

Wider context

The report noted human trafficking is a problem in Indonesia, a nation of more than 17,000 islands. It referenced a severe previous case in which at least 57 people were found caged on a palm oil plantation in North Sumatra province in 2022.

“for the purpose of exploitation”