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Anastasia Balezdrova

The police in Trikala broke up another channel for trafficking of Bulgarian babies, apprehending during the operation seven participants in it, namely four Greeks and three Bulgarians. Two of the arrested Greeks are legal practitioners, a notary and lawyer. The other three detainees are the 29-year-old mother of the baby that would have been sold and two men aged 45 and 33 years. According to sources, the child was born in a public hospital in Thessaloniki, and eyewitnesses say that the mother is of Roma origin.

"This is the first case of illegal adoption revealed in Trikala," journalist Vasilis Alexiou from the local information site trikalavoice.gr, which was the first to report the news, told GRReporter. He however added that the city is located near Farsala where little Maria was found last year. In his words, the 45-year-old Bulgarian who managed the criminal network had been arrested and convicted in the past for involvement in such a case.

The police in Trikala have worked on the case since the beginning of August. Two police officers who pretended to be a childless couple had connected with two of the apprehended Greeks, being aware of the fact that they were intermediaries in a network for the trafficking of babies.

On 20 September, the police officers met with them and with the 45-year-old Bulgarian and were informed that three days later they could obtain a few-day-old baby against the amount of 10,000 euro.

The meeting took place in Trikala, on 23 September in the afternoon. The three Bulgarians, namely the head of the group, the mother of the boy who was born 21 days ago and the 33-year-old man met with the 45-year-old Greek woman and the fake adopters who were police officers.

They paid the Greek woman a deposit to the amount of 200 euro in previously described banknotes. When the woman received the money, the police officers who were there apprehended the four members of the network.

Later the authorities apprehended the 49-year-old lawyer, the 48-year-old notary and another 49-year-old Greek citizen who participated in the preparation of the necessary legal and notarial acts. The subsequent investigation revealed their involvement in other cases of illegal adoptions carried out by the same network in the same way.

The police in Trikala believe that the network members were searching for unmarried pregnant women in Bulgaria, persuading them to sell their children. Then subsequently the women were transported to Greek hospitals where they gave birth to the babies. Meanwhile, the Greek members of the network were looking for childless couples who wanted to adopt a child. They informed them that this would be possible after the payment of large sums of money and undertook to complete all procedures.

According to the police in Trikala, the group acted quickly in implementing the "orders". Its members had even presented two and even three babies to the potential adopters, allowing them to choose the one they liked.

The investigation seized nine declarations and acts of adoption, the amount of 200 euro in previously described banknotes, one document for the payment of a sum of money through a money transfer company, seven mobile phones and one car.

It also revealed that the apprehended persons had been involved in at least 11 cases of illegal adoption that had taken place in Greece over the past 7 years.

The charges against the detainees include involvement in illegal adoption, and organizing and involvement in an illegal group to the degree of felony. It is expected that they will testify before the prosecutors in Trikala.

The police are continuing the investigation in order to establish their participation in other similar cases as well as to detect other members of the criminal network.