Lieutenant Colonel Trần Trung Hiếu, Deputy Chief of Tân Bình District Police, provides information about the infant trafficking ring at the press conference. Photo tuoitre.vn

HCM CITY — HCM City Police Department on Wednesday announced it has successfully tackled a large-scale baby trafficking ring.

Colonel Phạm Đình Ngọc, head of the HCM City Police’s Criminal Investigation Department, chaired a press briefing today, providing more information about their investigation and how they dismantled a nationwide infant trafficking ring that disguised itself as an adoption service, spanning 32 cities and provinces across the country.

According to initial findings, within 30 days of receiving a tip-off, the police successfully dismantled the trafficking network involved in the sale of newborns, forgery of documents and the use of private groups on the internet to conduct illegal activities.

Sixteen individuals involved in the network have been detained for further investigation, facing charges of trafficking in persons under 16 years of age and forgery of seals and documents of agencies and organisations.

After receiving information and documents related to the sale of newborns, the police assigned Major General Mai Hoàng, Deputy Director of the HCM City Police and head of the city’s Criminal Investigation Agency, to work with the Criminal Investigation Office of Tân Bình District’s Police and other relevant units to identify the suspects in the criminal network, with a particular focus on rescuing the infant victims.

Based on the collected information, the investigation team summoned Nguyễn Thị Ánh Đào, 35, residing in the central province of Nghệ An, who was found caring for a three-day-old male infant at a hotel in Ward 2, Tân Bình District.

Đào initially admitted to claim to adopt the child due to infertility, but actually intended to hand over the baby to a couple in HCM City for an illegal profit of VNĐ40 million (US$1,600).

As the investigation expanded, the police identified a large-scale infant trafficking ring operating under the guise of adoption, led by Nguyễn Thị Ánh Đào, Hoàng Thị Nhung, both 42, residing in the southern province Đồng Nai, Đỗ Thị Thúy Ngân, 30, in Hà Nội, and Cao Thị Thu Phương, 41, in the northern province Hải Dương.

The ring was assisted by six brokers.

Since early 2024, this criminal network used private groups on social media to connect with women facing financial difficulties after giving birth, buying 16 infants aged from three days to three months old for amounts ranging from VNĐ10-23 million per child. The infants were then sold for amounts ranging between VNĐ35-75 million each, generating illegal profits of hundreds of millions of đồng.

To legitimise the sale of newborns under the guise of adoption, the perpetrators collaborated with a document-forging ring led by Phan Phương Nam, 35, in Đồng Nai Province, who provided fake birth certificates to facilitate adoption procedures and register the birth of the trafficked infants.

The suspects in the case. — Photo from the HCM City Police

During a search of the document-forging location in Biên Hoà City in Đồng Nai Province, the police seized 49 tools and thousands of fake documents, including many fake birth certificates.

Using information from the seized birth certificates, the police established nine task forces to urgently investigate 84 cases of suspected infant trafficking in 32 cities and provinces across the country. They successfully identified and rescued the trafficked children, coordinating with local authorities to protect and care for the victims.

Notably, they discovered and rescued a 20-day-old baby boy who had been bought by Vi Thị Anh, 38 in Sơn La Province, who is awaiting the execution of two sentences totalling over 12 years and six months in prison for illegal drug trafficking, using the pretext of adoption to delay serving her prison term.

The case is under further investigation. — VNS