A Ukrainian child trafficker under the disguise of a “charity worker” was caught trying to buy a baby to harvest and sell its organs, according to reports.
The man allegedly gave a $1,000 downpayment to the baby boy’s mother and claimed the boy was adopted in the EU to live safely away from the ongoing war.
The trafficker offered the mother $5,000 for the baby, which he intended to sell to traffickers for $25,000.
However, the man was detained by authorities with a female accomplice at the Ukraine-Slovakia border as he intended to cross with the child.
The Ukrainian Child trafficker has reportedly sold three other children by telling parents they would be taken out of war-torn Ukraine before he was caught.
Ukrainian journalist Vitaliy Glagola said the man “had been looking for parents who were ready to sell their child for organs,” according to the Daily Mail.
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As the outlet reported:
An operation by police, the SBU secret service, and border guards detained him at the Malye Selmentsy frontier checkpoint.
The man was remanded in custody pending further investigation, while the rescued child was reunited with his mother.
The man is held under child trafficking laws, said a police spokesman, and faces up to 15 years in jail if convicted.
There have been repeated warnings in recent years of children from impoverished eastern Europe exported on the black market by gangs linked to organ transplants for wealthy clients, especially in the Middle East.
But Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which sent millions of Ukrainian citizens fleeing across the border, presented an opportunity for human traffickers to prey on the most vulnerable of refugees.
Human Events cited Karolina Wierzbinska, a coordinator at the human rights organization Homo Faber in Poland, who said that she has witnessed human traffickers trying to lure refugees to Poland from Ukraine.
“[We see teams] waiting for people arriving from Ukraine and pretending to offer rides or lodging to women distressed and exhausted from their journey,” Wierzbinska stated.
“We’re also seeing multiple couples, typically a male and female, having traveled to the border by car, attempting to lure women using similar tactics. We intervene in such cases by approaching the person acting suspiciously and asking them to register in our volunteer directory — in response to which they typically run away.”
The news comes as actor Jim Caviezel, star of the upcoming movie on child trafficking Sound of Freedom, warned that child trafficking in the Americas includes harvesting and selling kids’ organs.
Caviezel said he worked with several former federal agents and 30 Navy SEALS while making the film in Colombia.
Caviezel also implicated several US agencies in child sex trafficking during the interview with Bannon.
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READ: Rumors Swirl Mel Gibson Is About to Drop Major Film on Child Sex Trafficking
