Originally published June 28, 2023 6:00 pm PDT
A chilling case of child trafficking was thwarted in Ukraine recently, as law enforcement officials apprehended a 43-year-old charity worker, now dubbed as an “evil child trader,” while attempting to transport an 11-month-old baby out of the country for illicit purposes.
The accused, along with a female cohort, was captured at the border between Ukraine and Slovakia.
His intention, allegedly, was to sell the baby for organ transplants in exchange for $25,000, according to The Daily Mail.
According to the facts reported by Ukrainian journalist Vitaliy Glagola, the trader was specifically seeking parents prepared to give up their child for organ trafficking.
“Law enforcement officers have operational information that this was not for adoption to the EU, and the child was to have been sold to [illegal] organ transplants,” he stated.
The man had deceitfully presented himself to the baby’s mother, promising that he would facilitate the child’s adoption into a safer life in the EU.
He had even paid an advance of $1,000 out of the total $5,000 he offered to the mother, a resident of Zhytomyr.
However, the mother alerted law enforcement authorities about the suspect’s activities.
The collaboration of police, the SBU secret service, and border guards led to the man’s arrest at the Malye Selmentsy frontier checkpoint.
The suspect is now held under child trafficking laws, and if found guilty, he could face imprisonment for up to 15 years.
Following the arrest, the baby was safely returned to his mother.
Regrettably, this incident is not isolated.
Authorities suspect that the man may have sold three other children in a similar manner, under the guise of finding them safe homes outside the war-ravaged Ukraine.
Warnings have been frequent about the vulnerable children from the economically disadvantaged regions of Eastern Europe falling prey to such black market operations, particularly for organ transplants.
These operations are reported to be catering to affluent clients primarily in the Middle East.
The crisis has been exacerbated by Russia’s military operation in Ukraine, which has resulted in a massive exodus of Ukrainian refugees.
Human traffickers have seized this opportunity to exploit refugees, especially unaccompanied women and children.
Earlier reports indicated criminals falsely promising safety, shelter, and free transport to lure victims away from the security of official checkpoints.
Karolina Wierzbińska, a coordinator at the Homo Faber human rights organization in Lublin, Poland, voiced her concerns about this horrifying trend.
She revealed witnessing groups of people or multiple couples pretending to assist refugees, only to entrap them.
“We intervene in such cases by approaching the person acting suspiciously and asking them to register in our volunteer directory – in response to which they typically run away,” she said.
In the aftermath of the Ukraine war, numerous Ukrainian refugees sought shelter in Poland, straining the border towns and cities.
Furthermore, Missing Children Europe disclosed to the Guardian that unaccompanied minors were increasingly disappearing at the borders during the early stages of the conflict, Daily Mail notes.
Secretary General Aagje Ieven emphasized the gravity of the situation, saying, “There are so many children […] that we lost track of.”
“This is a huge problem, not just because it means they easily go missing, and are difficult to find, but also because it makes trafficking so easy,” she added.
