Mexican authorities have claimed that some of the children at the centre of an adoption scam involving Irish parents were sexually abused.

The Associated Press has reported that four of the 10 children, taken in care by police in western Mexico after they smashed the illegal child adoption ring, were abused.

The allegations were credited to a Mexican official involved in the investigation of the case and did not state when the children, two and younger, were abused.

All 11 Irish parents are currently being questioned by police who believed they were duped into adopting the children in a child trafficking scam. Seven children were taken from the Irish citizens involved.

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Jalisco state attorney general Tomas Coronado told the Associated Press that a medical examination determined the abuse. He gave no other details.

Coronado said 11 Irish couples in all are being questioned in connection with the case and 15 Irish citizens had already spoken to investigators in the city of Guadalajara.

Local authorities detained four women last week with children aged between two months and two years.

A woman had told police that her sister-in-law was trying to ‘sell one of her babies and rent the other one’.

Two Mexican men and seven women have been arrested in the case.