Baby trafficking in Chania: Infant of “unknown parents” sold to an Australian woman

An Australian woman seems to have had all the required documents to bring a baby delivered by surrogacy in Greece back to Australia.

The Georgian national and the facility she gave birth in have been at the centre of an international baby trafficking storm since August.

The Neonatal Unit of the General Hospital of Chania on the Greek island of Crete is accused by the Greek authorities of having been involved in baby trafficking.

The accusations included the exploitation of 169 women from countries Ukraine, Romania and Georgia, forcing them to be surrogate mothers or egg donors. The trafficking syndicate is also accused of illegal adoptions and fake IVF treatments.

According to reports by flahnews.gr, the Australian woman at the centre of this case “presents a difficult legal case”, as the authorities have yet to verify the identity of the biological parents. So, the baby remains officially “unidentified” but is otherwise in excellent health.

The baby was conceived through lab fertilisation, whereby a donated egg and sperm from a sperm bank are implanted in a surrogate. In this case, it is alleged that the Romanian national acting as a surrogate was also involved in the suspected baby trafficking ring in Chania. The Australian woman in the centre, it seems, like others looking to have children, was not aware of the criminal ring.

According to media reports, the Australian foster mother expecting to adopt the newborn has approached the traffickers and “bought” the baby from them. She then aimed to bring it to Australia through a formal process and embrace it under Australian laws. The reports say that she has all the necessary notarial documents that would otherwise entitle her to take the baby back to Australia and raise it herself.

However, many of the legal aspects of the case remain unclear. It has yet to be established whether the foster mother intended to raise the baby on her own or whether there is a partner involved.

The authorities have announced the local public prosecutor is working on this case and other similar cases related to the Chania trafficking ring. On November 23, the District Court of Chania will decide on the custody of twin babies who, last August, were delivered to their Italian parents from the hospital in Chania.

The trafficking ring’s head doctor and his accomplices have been detained, and their trial is expected to begin early next year. The 73-year-old gynecologist, who was also the legal representative of a local fertility clinic, formed the trafficking ring along with several accomplices, including several fellow doctors. The trafficked babies were being sold for about 70.000 euros each.

The ring’s clientele included couples who could not conceive and individuals who wanted to raise a baby as single parents. To bypass the Greek legal adoption requirements, the latter would form virtual civil partnerships with women who were also involved in the ring as surrogate mothers, with whom they would later divorce.

The trafficking ring amassed huge profits through the scheme, to the extent that its heads established offshore companies to clean the ill-gotten gains. Greek authorities have been working extensively on identifying the flow of that money to reveal the extent of the ring’s activities. The Greek authorities have built a case for over six months before acting.

The cryopreserved embryos that were found by the authorities when they stormed into the ring’s facilities are safe and will be returned to their beneficiaries as soon as possible. To the knowledge of the Greek authorities, all babies who were involved in the ring’s activities were in good health.