INDONESIA SENTENCES BABY TRAFFICKING RINGLEADER TO JAIL

A woman who led a baby trafficking ring in Indonesia was sentenced Tuesday to seven years in prison, a judge said.

Lie Siu Luan, 70, was the leader of a group of 19 people accused of trafficking babies in Indonesia and Singapore.

She was found guilty of committing crimes “for the purpose of exploitation”, said presiding judge Gatot Ardian Agustriono.

The sentence was lower than prosecutors’ demand of 10 years for Lie, who previously told the court that she had sent at least 12 babies to Singapore.

According to the indictment, Lie had trafficked a baby to Singapore for adoption in 2022, pocketing around S$17,000.

Another defendant, Astri Fitrinika, was found guilty of a similar charge and received six years and seven months in prison, Gatot added.

The defendants were arrested 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.

Other children, rejected by would-be clients in Singapore, were sold domestically — including to adoptive parents in the capital, Jakarta.

Human trafficking is a problem in Indonesia, a sprawling nation of more than 17,000 islands.

In one of the worst cases in recent years, at least 57 people were found caged on a palm oil plantation in North Sumatra province in 2022.