Bulgarian babies and toddlers for sale!

It's great that this kind of thing is being exposed - and stopped. But I wonder if the story will - as is so often the case - be used to tarnish the reputation of legitimate international adoptions. Reported on the BBC: BBC exposes Bulgarian baby trade Babies are being illegally offered for sale in Bulgaria with the promise of smuggling them abroad, an undercover BBC News team has discovered. A self-confessed human trafficker in the resort city of Varna showed off toddlers with a selling price of 60,000 euros (40,000) each. For an extra fee, he said he would personally deliver a child to London. Bulgaria is investigating the findings of the BBC sting, which was stopped before any children were actually sold. "Harry", as the smuggler called himself, was led to believe that the baby was destined for a shady British businessman whose criminal record barred him from legal adoption routes. He never asked what would happen to the child who, he said, could be smuggled to London via routes he had used in the past to traffic prostitutes. A BBC TV Ten O'Clock News team which set up the sting spent more than a month in Varna, lulling Harry into revealing his criminal activities. Bulgaria has been under strong international pressure to crack down on organised crime since joining the European Union earlier this year. Harry said he had previously smuggled children to Germany and Norway and boasted of trafficking prostitutes from Bulgaria to Spain, the Netherlands and Ireland. The BBC team covertly filmed some of the children he was offering. The toddlers were brought to innocuous street cafes by relatives or other adults and seemed oblivious to what was going on around them. It appears that their families were complicit and there was no evidence of them being coerced. Some spoke of being unable to afford to look after them. Parents can also be prosecuted under a new Bulgarian law (2006) for selling their child. After being alerted by the BBC, the Bulgarian authorities passed the details of the BBC investigation to social services and police in Varna. The criminal gang involved is now under surveillance. Police say they need to gather their own evidence in order to mount a prosecution but are ready to take "any appropriate action". The illegal traffic in Bulgarian babies is not a new phenomenon but previous cases involved pregnant women smuggled abroad to give birth and hand over their infants. France convicted nine Bulgarians and dozens of French people in February over the sale of babies to French Roma (Gypsy) couples. The couples are said to have paid up to $10,000 (ã5,000) for each child. After being contacted by the BBC the Bulgarian authorities alerted social services and police in Varna, passing on details of the BBC investigation. They are now watching the criminal gang and say they need to gather their own evidence in order to mount a prosecution, but are ready to take "any appropriate action". Viewers in the UK can watch more on this story on the Ten O'Clock news. A version of the package will be available for international viewers later today, with some changes to protect the identities of the children. Story from BBC NEWS: [url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6917308.stm]BBC NEWS | Europe | BBC exposes Bulgarian baby trade[/url] Published: 2007/07/26 16:34:50 GMT