Guardia Civil discover an agreement between a couple and a young woman to sell baby

OFFICERS of the Guardia Civil have arrested three people, a young woman from Arcos de la Frontera, Cadiz, and a couple from Vicar, Almeria, who have been accused of agreeing that the couple would buy a baby from the young woman for €10,000.

The investigation began when the officers were alerted to this arrangement by a third party and they contacted the local council who advised that the girl had reported the birth and stated that the baby had died and the body had been donated to science.

They followed this up with a visit to the hospital in which the child was born and records there showed that the birth of a healthy girl was normal and that the mother and child were discharged after two days although she had not registered the birth.

It transpired that the couple had travelled to Cadiz to collect the baby and were going to register the birth in Almeria as well as obtaining the notarised agreement from the girl that she had handed the baby over to them.

Once officers were able to ascertain that the child was in good health, they interviewed the mother who said that she had attempted artificial insemination herself on a number of occasions until successful and that she was passing the child over to make sure it had a good future.

The couple denied any offer of payment but because of the differences between the statements by the three suspects and the fact that officers found records of the girl actually receiving IVF treatment in a Malaga clinic, it was clear to them that a financial arrangement had been entered into.

The three were then arrested and the child removed and placed with the social services department of the Junta de Andalucia.