http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=buy-our-babies-- <http://www.people.co.uk/news/tm_headline=buy-our-babies--&method=full&objec tid=19206300&siteid=93463-name_page.html> &method=full&objectid=19206300&siteid=93463-name_page.html 27 May 2007 BUY OUR BABIES The People exposes vile trade in EU kids sold & smuggled to UK By Daniel Jones and Nada Farhoud
DESPERATE Brits who can't have kids or are turned down for adoption can easily buy a child in eastern Europe, a shock People investigation reveals today. Poverty-stricken families will sell a baby for as little as 3,000 euros - about £2,000 - with no questions asked. And some of the tots being flogged off and smuggled to the UK are just six weeks old. The vile trade has boomed in Romania and Bulgaria since the former communist countries joined the EU in January. Free movement between member states makes it simpler to traffick kids into Britain. And the prospect of creaming off vast profits from rich Westerners means the illegal racket is often run by ruthless gangsters. Some even order henchmen to STEAL babies from struggling families. That way, the ringleaders can keep ALL the cash the foreigners hand over. People investigators posing as a couple who couldn't have children were offered two kids after arriving in Buzau, a rundown city 60 miles north-east of Romania's capital Bucharest. One was an almost newborn baby who came with a price-tag of 15,000 euros - about £10,000. The other was a two-year-old boy who we could have bought for 3,000 euros - a paltry £2,000. In both cases there was NO attempt to check out our backgrounds or to make sure we would be fit parents. The grim truth is, we could have been anybody. The baby for sale was tiny brown-eyed Florentina Caraiman. Our investigators travelled to the gipsy quarter of Buzau and were pointed to Florentina's family by regulars at a small bar. They told us: "Rich white people are always coming here for that." We drove to a tiny hovel where Florentina lived with her mum Marcela, 30, and dad Flaviu. Dad-of-two Flaviu, 37, handed over his beautiful daughter as he demanded to know how much we would pay for her. We offered him 5,000 euros - about £3,500. Flaviu snapped back: "That is not enough. "That will not change my life. It I is hardly like winning the lottery." Waving Florentina's birth certificate, he described the oblivious infant as if she was a used car for sale on a forecourt. He boasted: "She is healthy. We have had no problems with her. And strong. Look at those legs. Only six weeks old. Nice brown eyes - see?" We eventually agreed to pay £10,000 for Florentina. Her mum and dad grinned as they pocketed our £150 posit and shook our hands warmly. Her father then followed us out to our car and handed Florentina to us for a final cuddle before we drove away. Our other offer came from child-trafficker Ion Goguta. We tracked him down to Leresti, a ramshackle gipsy village close to the foothills of the Transylvanian Alps near Buzau. The 55-year-old middleman, who calls himself Jim, took us to meet Diana Doru. Diana, 34, struggles to make ends meet as she brings up her EIGHT children in a rundown home in the city. And she was anxious to sell us the youngest of her brood, two-year-old Bogdan. But life in the village is so desperate we could have had any of her five youngest. Goguta lined them up so we could inspect them - and pointed to little Bogdan, who burst into tears. The fixer told us: "He has blond hair and light features. He will blend in to your country. He is good value for 3,000 euros." Diana gave a nervous and toothless grin as Goguta reeled off his sales patter. And after being prompted by him, she tried to smile broadly as Goguta said: "She would prefer to sell Bogdan because he is the youngest and she knows him less. But you can have any one of the other four boys. "She has got two older ones but they are not for sale because they are useful. "And she only has one girl, so she cannot sell her." Diana was wearing a filthy red tracksuit and little Bogdan was dressed in a grubby jumper and pyjamas. The four older boys looked as if they had not had a wash for several days. Grinning Goguta boasted: "Getting Bogdan to Britain is easy, especially now we have joined the EU. "His mother will fly there with you and Bogdan and then leave him with you. That has been done before." He said we could arrange the necessary paperwork with UK officials once we had arrived back home. He hinted there was also another way - using a corrupt local official. Goguta claimed he could find a friendly Romanian social services chief to sort out the right paperwork - even though adoption by foreigners is illegal in the country. He laughed: "The man will get the passport for Bogdan, adoption papers and release form - if the price is right." We agreed to the deal and handed over a £200 deposit. Following the two offers, we immediately reported Goguta, Diana and Florentina's parents to Romanian authorities and local children's charities. These children may now be saved from the shameful trade in adoption. But worryingly, there are thousands more like them in Romania and Bulgaria. And unscrupulous dealers can make fortunes from childless families in prosperous EU countries such as Britain. Romania became notorious as a target for foreigners wanting to adopt kids after the fall of communism in 1989. Legal adoption to overseas couples was banned in 2001 after it was revealed dodgy officials had pocketed huge bribes for kids dumped in squalid state-run orphanages. But the ban just pushed the trade underground. Politicians in Bucharest refuse to discuss how many kids are still at risk from the trade because they fear it will further taint Romania's image. But a police source said: "Sometimes couples hear of the areas to go to and ask around. "Or the gangs are tipped off and make the first move. It will be a corrupt official at a fertility clinic or adoption agency." A spokesman for Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency backed the police view. He said: "Human trafficking - including the transportation of people for exploitation against their will - is still a big problem." A recent report by the international children's watchdog Unicef claims up to 14,000 kids A YEAR are smuggled across European borders. (C) The People ---------------------------- Vali "Noble blood is an accident of fortune; noble actions are the chief mark of greatness." (Carlo Goldoni) "When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace." (Jimi Hendrix)
