Police rescue 13 infants in baby smuggling racket

The Associated Press

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysian police have rescued 13 babies and arrested seven suspected members of a baby smuggling racket, a newspaper reported Saturday.

The Berita Harian newspaper quoted Mohd Yusoff Jaafar, police chief of Sarawak state on Borneo island, as saying the group had been selling babies for the past six years for between $1,000 and $4,700.

He said the group had about 30 members with links to a neighboring country, which he declined to name.

The report quoted him as saying that police made the arrests and rescued the babies in the state's capital city, Kuching. He did not give the age of the children, the day of the arrests or other details.

The babies have been placed under the care of a government welfare agency.