Hanoi's Hoan Kiem District police have prosecuted and remanded a man and a woman in four-month custody for allegedly smuggling newborn babies.
Dang Quang Hy, 66, and Bui Thi Le Thuan, 48, were arrested by the Hoan Kiem Police's Investigative Unit on November 24.
The police had earlier called Thuan in for questioning after discovering her bringing up a month-old girl.
Thuan admitted to police that she was caring for the baby for Hy and his wife until the baby was sold and would be paid VND100,000 (US$5) per day.
The police, after examining Thuan's house in Hoan Kiem District, found two handwritten documents by mothers volunteering to give up their babies to Hy. They also found similar documents at Hy's house in Thanh Luong ward in Hai Ba Trung District.
At the police station, Hy admitted he had collected five newborn babies aged between three days to a month old, and claimed four of the babies had been successfully sold for VND10-17 million ($510-867) each.
However, police investigations revealed that Hy had sold a baby for VND35 million ($1,785) to an adoptive parent in the northern province of Phu Tho.
The police took the baby that Thuan had been caring for and placed the infant in the Hanoi Center for Orphans and Malnourished Children.
"Further investigations are now underway," said Director of Hoan Kiem Police Hoang Quoc Dinh.
Under current regulations, child smugglers can be sentenced to between three years and life imprisonment depending on the level of infringement, purposes and consequences of smuggling, said Hanoi-based lawyer Nguyen Thai Hoa.
Violators would also be liable to administrative fines of between VND5-50 million ($255-2,550), he said.
Nearly 1,950 cases of woman and child trafficking cases have been discovered, involving more than 4,700 victims over the past six years, following the implementation of a national action program on women and children trafficking prevention and control, according to statistics from the Ministry of Public Security.
