Sofia, Bulgaria
A Bulgarian criminal gang was caught this week transporting pregnant women to other European countries in order to sell their babies. Italian police exposed two of the sales by conducting a sting operation. Posing as doctors and nurses, they saw the transfer of the infants from the Bulgarian mothers to Italian purchasers just after the births in an Italian hospital. Police said they did not know how many children had been sold in this manner, but their sources indicated that baby girls tended to fetch $6,000 and boys twice that. Similar investigations are under way in Portugal and France, where several Bulgarian women have given birth and then left the hospital without their babies.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Foreigners in Spain facing a 100% tax on homes as the country battles a housing crisisUnder the Radar The goal is to provide 'more housing, better regulation and greater aid,' said Spain's prime minister
-
Sudoku hard: January 22, 2025The Week's daily hard sudoku puzzle
-
Codeword: January 22, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
