Bengaluru: The Bengaluru Police have arrested eight individuals involved in an illicit baby trafficking ring. The racketeers targeted impoverished women from Tamil Nadu, enticing them with payment to bear children, which were then sold to childless couples for sums ranging from Rs. 8 to Rs. 10 lakh.

The arrests were made following the rescue of a 20-day-old baby boy, slated for sale to a couple in Rajarajeshwarinagar.

Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda said that the mastermind behind the racket was a woman with a history of selling her own children. Interrogations by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) indicated that the group had sold 10 babies to date.

The operation, active between Tamil Nadu and Bengaluru for several years, also involved collaboration with private hospitals and doctors in Chennai. Those arrested, primarily hailing from Tamil Nadu, were identified as Suhasini, Gomathi, Kannan Ramaswamy, Hemalatha, Sharanya, Mahalakshmi and Radha.