MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti) – A criminal case has been opened against a 22-year-old mother who was attempting to sell her two babies for 200,000 rubles ($7,154) in Grozny, a local police source said.
On Wednesday, the mother believed she was selling her 9-month-old boy and girl to new parents near Grozny’s central maternity hospital. But the buyers turned out to be undercover policemen, the press service of Chechnya’s Interior Ministry said.
The woman received the money (marked notes) and handed her children over to the “new parents.” After the exchange, she was immediately arrested.
Later, the young mother told investigators she decided to sell her toddlers because she has no money to feed her first two children she is raising alone. She wanted to improve her financial situation, she added.
“A criminal case on an article for human trafficking was opened against the woman. The babies were transferred to the children’s unit of the republic’s mother and child health care center,” the police source said.
If the mother is proven guilty, she may be put behind bars for up to 15 years.