An Indonesian court has sentenced a 70-year-old woman to seven years in prison after finding her guilty of leading a baby trafficking syndicate that smuggled infants from Indonesia to Singapore for illegal adoption.
Lie Siu Luan, identified as the leader of a network comprising 19 suspects, was convicted on Tuesday by a court in Indonesia for orchestrating the trafficking operation.
Delivering judgment, presiding judge Gatot Ardian Agustriono ruled that Lie was guilty of committing offences “for the purpose of exploitation.”
The seven-year jail term handed to the convict was lower than the 10-year prison sentence earlier requested by prosecutors.
During the trial, Lie admitted that she had arranged the transfer of at least 12 babies to Singapore.
Court documents showed that in one instance, she trafficked an infant to Singapore for adoption in 2022 and received approximately 17,000 Singapore dollars from the transaction.
Another defendant in the case, Astri Fitrinika, was also convicted of a similar trafficking offence.
Judge Agustriono sentenced Astri to six years and seven months in prison for her role in the illegal operation.
The baby trafficking syndicate was uncovered last year after the parents of one of the victims reported the disappearance of their child to police in Indonesia’s West Java Province.
The report prompted an investigation that led security authorities to dismantle the network.
Police officers successfully rescued several babies being held by the trafficking syndicate before they could be transported abroad and sold.
Investigators also discovered that some infants who were rejected by prospective buyers in Singapore were instead sold within Indonesia.
According to authorities, some of the babies were subsequently handed over to adoptive parents in the capital city, Jakarta.
The case has once again drawn attention to the persistent problem of human trafficking across Indonesia, an archipelago made up of more than 17,000 islands.
Human trafficking remains one of the country’s major security and human rights concerns, with criminal networks often exploiting vulnerable women and children.
One of Indonesia’s most notorious trafficking-related cases occurred in 2022, when authorities discovered at least 57 people locked inside cages on a palm oil plantation in North Sumatra Province.
The discovery sparked widespread condemnation and renewed calls for stronger enforcement against trafficking and modern slavery across the country.
Authorities have maintained that efforts to dismantle trafficking syndicates and prosecute those involved will continue as part of broader measures to protect vulnerable children and combat organised crime.
