Irish couples caught up in Mexican babies-for-sale adoption scam

Police start interviews after child adoption ring smashed

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Eleven Irish couples have gotten caught up in an illegal adoption scandal in Mexico.

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“We’ve rescued nine babies in total, boys and girls. Two were removed from one of the women we arrested and another seven from the custody of foreign couples. They’re now in state care. One is two; the rest are between two and eight months.”

A 21-year-old woman has been arrested after a relative reported that she was "renting out" one of her children. The woman claimed that she had been paid to give the child to a group of three women who "needed baby pictures for legitimate advertising purposes."

Police ascertained that the other three women were taking the child and several others to a hotel where the Irish couples believed they were going to adopt them. The women were subsequently arrested on suspicion of belonging to a child-trafficking gang.

It is believed they bought babies off cash-strapped mums-to-be found through ads in local newspapers before handing them over to foreign couples who travelled to Mexico to adopt.

Seven of the Irish couples had already received their babies in Guadalajara and were sent to the nearby town of Ajijic with the children while the papers were processed.

Officials believe the Irish parents were duped into thinking they were taking part in a lawful adoption process.

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