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The Greek police have apprehended four people while they were attempting to carry out the purchase and sale of a newborn in the Athens suburb of Acharnes. The detainees are a Bulgarian couple - a man, aged 45, and a woman, aged 38, who were trying to sell the baby and two Greeks, aged 47 and 23, who were intermediaries in the "deal". The baby's mother, who is also a Bulgarian citizen, is wanted.

According to the Greek media, the Bulgarian couple found the 18-year-old pregnant woman in Bulgaria and they agreed that she should give them the baby immediately after giving birth in return for the sum of 1,500 euro.

On 20 August, the two detained intermediaries transported the pregnant woman to a gynaecological clinic in Athens where she gave birth and registered her with the personal data of the 38-year-old Bulgarian woman.

On 27 August, the intermediaries returned to the clinic to obtain the birth certificate of the baby and to enter it in the municipal registers. For this purpose, they submitted photocopies of the identification cards of the Bulgarian couple, presenting them as the biological parents of the baby. The administrative staff of the clinic, however, noticed that the picture of the alleged mother was different from that of the woman who gave birth to the child.

Having received information on the case, the police department in the district of Ilion carried out an inspection in the flat of the 47-year-old Greek in the suburb of Acharnes where the officers found and apprehended four people, as well as the newborn who was transported to the children's hospital in Athens.

The Athens prosecutor’s office has imitated preliminary legal proceedings in the case.