"Needed Money" - Gang Arrested for Posting Newborn 'Sales Advertisement' on SNS

One Newborn Already Sold... Currently Tracing Whereabouts
"Committed Crime Due to Difficulty Finding Job and Living Hardships"

A man caught trying to buy and sell newborns through SNS in Iran
[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Intern Reporter Kim Bong-ju] A group attempting to sell a newborn baby only 20 days old for money in Iran has been arrested by authorities.

On the 24th (local time), according to local media including Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the Tehran city police in Iran announced that they arrested three individuals who advertised the sale of newborn babies for money through social networking services (SNS).

The Iranian police received multiple reports recently about advertisements on Instagram offering newborn babies for sale, tracked these ads, and apprehended the suspects.

At the time of arrest, two newborns aged 20 days and two months were found with them.

According to the police, the group obtained the newborns from very poor families for about 300,000 to 600,000 Korean won and intended to resell them to infertile couples for 2.4 to 3 million won.

In Iran, 300,000 to 500,000 won is roughly equivalent to the monthly salary of a recent university graduate.

The suspects confessed that they had already sold one newborn, and the police are currently searching for the whereabouts of that baby.

They also identified and summoned the biological parents who sold the newborns.

One of the suspects said during the police investigation, "I committed this crime of mediating newborn sales because I could not find a job, life became difficult, and I needed money," adding, "It might be much better for the baby than growing up in an extremely poor family."

A woman who contacted them to buy a newborn said, "I wanted to have one more child but could no longer get pregnant, so I contacted them after seeing the advertisement on Instagram," and added, "I was willing to pay the intermediary if I could personally confirm that the biological parents wanted the baby to be adopted by another family."

The Iranian police have reported that such crimes of newborn trading are increasingly occurring online and have decided to expand their investigation.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.