Nasty business: Midwife confesses to kidnap, sale of infants

Police recover month-old baby picked up from next to his sleeping mother

FAISALABAD: Three women and a man in Chak 543-GB Mangnan have been arrested for kidnapping and selling children. Garh police also managed to recover a month-old child who had been abducted. 

A police spokesperson told The Express Tribune on Wednesday that the complainant’s wife was sleeping in her house next to her month-old son. She woke up to find the baby missing and raised an alarm in the area. The spokesperson said that news of the child’s disappearance spread all over the area and several residents of Mangan mounted a search party, but they were unable to find the child.

The parents then filed a complaint with Garh police. The police took Safia, one of the couple’s neighbours who was also a midwife, into custody.

Police said that she had confessed to having abducted the infant. “She admitted that she had abducted more than a dozen infants and had sold them to childless parents for money,” the spokesperson said.

Safia told police that she had sold the complainant’s child to Abdul Ghaffar and his wife Maqboolan in a neighbouring village for Rs160,000, he said. “Police raided Ghaffar’s house and recovered the baby.”

The Garh SHO said the case had been wrapped up within 15 hours of the complaint. He said they had arrested four suspects in the case. “Safia confessed that she had been involved in the abduction and sale of infants for quite some time…The first child she ever abducted was sold to Parveen and Siddique Gujjar, residents of Chak 545-GB, for Rs80,000.”

Following the arrest, several residents of the area held a demonstration and demanded strict action against the suspects. They shouted slogans and said the culprits must be made an example of.

Rehmat Ali, a resident of the area, said Safia was a midwife in the village and a frequent visitor. “She knew the ins and outs of all households and was the go-to person for pregnant women in the area.”

Ali said it was hard for them to imagine her being involved in such a nasty episode. “However, if she has confessed, the police must take the culprits to task and recover all the children she and her gang have ever sold.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 27^th, 2015.