9 CHARGED AFTER BABY-TRAFFICKING RING BUSTED

Police in Mumbai have charged nine alleged members of a baby-trafficking ring — among them a nurse at a maternity hospital and agents who operated in the slums of India’s financial capital. The nine are accused of having bought and sold at least seven babies over a six-year period. The mothers of three infants and a man who had bought a baby were also arrested. “We’re now investigating how many more children have they sold and if there are more agents operating in the area,” said Insp. yogesh Chavan. “The mothers of the babies were poor and the buyers were couples desperate for a child.” Police said they have not yet taken the babies from the couples who bought them. Preliminary investigations suggest gang members targeted poor pregnant women in a slum area close to the city’s affluent Bandra Kurla Complex business district. The maternity nurse would then put childless couples she met through work in touch with the pregnant women, charging couples up to 100,000 rupees ($1,365).